A public official openly and theatrically engaging in illegal conduct ostensibly in order to enforce the law is the kind of bizarre dichotomy that we grew somewhat inured to during the presidency of Donald Trump, a man who, to name just one example, tried to order his vice president to invalidate the 2020 election in the name of safeguarding the vote.
Joining that disgraceful pantheon is outgoing Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, who for months now has been pantomiming border security for the MAGA crowd by erecting a crummy makeshift wall of shipping containers along a desolate section of the southern border. As plenty of observers have already pointed out, as a border security measure the stunt is practically useless; most contraband actually enters via ports of entry, there will still be hundreds of miles of border with no man-made barriers and the walls that do exist are frequently circumvented, while those hoping to seek asylum have a right to do so anyway.
That would make the endeavor kind of comical if it wasn’t so dangerous. Unfortunately, Ducey is running his stunt wall through federal land including the Coronado National Forest, threatening wildlife and flouting the authority of the federal government. He is also violating the longstanding principle of tribal sovereignty by running part of it through Cocopah land without authorization.
It seems like Ducey may want to take some remedial classes on U.S. civics, including the principle of preemption, under which the federal government alone possesses the authority to enforce immigration laws. He can go halfsies with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who has made illegal border security theater a signature move. He’ll have plenty of time now that he’s leaving office and the voters have made clear they’re tired of his party’s antics by flipping the Arizona governorship to the Democrats.
Now that this is a pattern, the feds should make clear that this meddling is not kosher and take some concerted action. If the containers and the vehicles installing them are on federal land, why not seize them?
