In 2022, much of the friction between the federal government and their state-level counterparts has been focused on issues surrounding the US border with Mexico, and precisely who should be responsible for its security.
It’s no secret that the Biden administration’s stance on border issues is far more lax than many of these states would care for, particularly as neither President Biden or “border czar”/Vice President Kamala Harris appears to have much of an interest in inspecting the issue first-hand.
Now, to add insult to injury, the Department of Justice is suing the state of Arizona, hoping to force local leaders to tear down their makeshift border wall.
After a two-week standoff between protesters and construction crews building a border wall made of shipping containers, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Arizona, accusing it of trespassing on federal land.
The lawsuit asks for “immediate injuctive relief prohibiting” the state from continuing work on the wall, which federal officials say is being built on federal land without the required permits or authority.
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“Arizona has unlawfully and without authority failed to remove the shipping containers from lands owned by the United States or over which the United States holds easements, thereby damaging the United States,” the complaint reads.
There has been a great deal of ongoing tension already:
The lawsuit follows months of tension between outgoing Gov. Doug Ducey’s office and federal agencies, including the U.S. Forest Service and the Department of the Interior, both of which oversee public land on which the barrier is being built.
In August, Ducey issued an executive order directing the Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs to fill gaps in the existing border wall in Yuma County using shipping containers.
The federal government has said the land is public and called the project “unlawful.”
In October, Ducey sued federal officials who head agencies overseeing public land, including the Forest Service and the Agriculture Department. The federal government asked that the lawsuit be dismissed.
The Biden administration’s border response has been so abysmal that several states, notably Texas, have begun busing and flying their excess of migrants to liberal enclaves in an act of rather effective advocacy.
Staff