This browser does not support the Video element.
Arizona sheriff: Shipping containers at border is 'illegal dumping'
The sheriff told FOX 10 that he plans to arrest construction crews and security personnel if they reach Santa Cruz County.
PHOENIX - A southern Arizona sheriff says he plans to stop shipping containers from being stacked at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Santa Cruz County Sheriff David Hathaway says that for the last four days, protesters have been showing up at the border, preventing crews from constructing the makeshift barrier.
Hathaway says he supports those protests, and calls Governor Ducey's order to use shipping containers as a border wall "illegal dumping."
The sheriff told FOX 10 that he plans to arrest construction crews and security personnel if they reach Santa Cruz County.
"The area where they're placing the containers is entirely on federal land, on national forest land," Hathaway said. "It's not state land, it's not private land, and the federal government has said this [is] illegal activity. So just the way if I saw somebody doing an assault or a homicide or a vehicle theft on public land within my county, I would charge that person with a crime."
Hathaway says construction has moved within about 6 miles from Santa Cruz County, directly south of Tucson.
Supporters of the shipping containers say the work is a matter of security and deters illegal immigration, human smuggling and drug smuggling.
Continued coverage
- Border Patrol agent killed in high-speed chase of group entering US illegally
- Biden defends skipping border visit while in Arizona, says there are 'more important things'
- Ex-Border agent indicted in sex assault of Arizona teen
This browser does not support the Video element.
Lawsuit filed by Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey over shipping containers at border wall
The lawsuit came after officials with the federal government ordered Arizona to take down the double-stacked containers that were used to fill gaps along the border wall. FOX 10's Stephanie Bennett reports.