Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey agreed to take down a makeshift shipping container border wall after a federal lawsuit, NBC News reports.
Ducey sued the federal government in October, asking a court to let him build a border wall out of shipping containers.
The Justice Department responded by filing a lawsuit calling the barrier illegal and dangerous.
The DOJ asked a judge to order the removal and asked for damages for the state’s “unlawful trespasses, including any costs and expenses incurred by the United States.”
The DOJ also asked the court for a “declaration that Arizona's use and occupancy of lands owned by the United States without the required permits or other authorization constitutes unlawful trespasses."
Agreement:
Ducey, the state’s outgoing governor, said he reached an agreement with the administration to stop installing shipping containers on the border.
The agreement will require the state to remove containers installed in the Coronado National Forest by January 4.
Earlier this month, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas authorized Customs and Border Protection to install barriers along the Arizona border.
"For more than a year, the federal government has been touting their effort to resume construction of a permanent border barrier," a Ducey spokesperson told NBC News. "Finally, after the situation on our border has turned into a full-blown crisis, they've decided to act. Better late than never."
Next governor:
Arizona Gov.-elect Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, said she opposes the makeshift border wall but had stopped short of voting to remove it when she takes office next month.
"It's not land that's our land to put things on. That's one problem. The containers aren't working. There's many pictures of people climbing over them," Hobbs said last week.
"It's a political stunt. It's a visual barrier that is not actually providing an effective barrier to entry, and I think a waste of taxpayer dollars," she added.
