By Melissa del Bosque
Published in The Border Chronicle April 4, 2023
On Sunday afternoon, more than 20 people gathered at the Coronado National Forest to celebrate the removal of former Governor Doug Ducey’s shipping container wall, and re-opening of the stretch of border. There were cupcakes, speeches, and a giant banner that read “Re-envision no more division.” The banner had hung on a shipping container during the height of protests last December, when several people camped out in the snow at the site to block construction vehicles.
Kate Scott, one of the protests’ main organizers, said the banner and other items from the protest encampment, called Camp Ocelot, will go to the Arizona Historical Society. “We pressured the government to abide by the rule of law,” she said Sunday to those assembled. “We stood up for democracy.”
The U.S. Forest Service reopened the stretch of border March 31, after closing it to the public on January 3, citing concerns over “public health and safety.” This was after a judge ordered AshBritt, the Florida-based disaster remediation firm, to remove the more than three miles of double-stacked shipping container wall, which Ducey had ordered built to stave off an “invasion” at the border.
The construction, then removal, of shipping container walls in Yuma and at the Coronado National Forest in Cochise County, cost Arizona taxpayers more than $200 million.
Read this article in The Border Chronicle
Border Wall Resistance volunteer, Mikal Jakubal, shared the photos below. Sheriff David Hathaway shared a poem written by a family member, all attendees signed our Re-Envision No More Division banner as well as next steps for re-purposing the shipping containers and restoration and remediation for the San Rafael Valley, Coronado National Forest.
