For the past seven weeks, the state of Arizona has been constructing a makeshift barrier on its southern border by lining up hundreds of shipping containers to deter illegal immigration.
The project has alarmed ecologists, flummoxed lawyers, and mobilized a group of protesters who are trying to stop it. This barrier will block wildlife movement in a biologically diverse region, and its unapproved construction is damaging Forest Service land, knocking over trees, and causing significant soil erosion.
Beginning in late October, Governor Doug Ducey ordered the barrier to be built along 10 miles of the border abutting the Coronado National Forest in a remote wilderness area 70 miles southeast of Tucson. Workers have already put up 3.5 miles of double-stacked shipping
