Kari Lake Calls Out Katie Hobbs for Saying She Would Remove Arizona’s Border Gap Barriers

Neil Jones

In an interview on KYMA, Democrat gubernatorial nominee Katie Hobbs said she would remove the physical barriers placed by Governor Doug Ducey (R) in areas unprotected by a wall. The campaign for Republican nominee Kari Lake called her out for wanting open borders.

“Any barrier is preferable to no border. [Katie Hobbs] knows this. She just doesn’t care. She is an open borders activist. Hobbs wants to make the rest of the world’s problems our own. [Kari Lake] will secure our border & protect Arizona,” tweeted the Lake campaign.

In her interview, Hobbs called Ducey’s move to place shipping containers across areas in Yuma a “political stunt” that is not helping anything. The federal government has told Ducey to take down the containers, alleging he was trespassing on federal land by doing so, but Ducey refused to do so, even if it meant going to court. Hobbs insinuated that Ducey purposefully put the barriers up to cause a legal battle between Arizona and the Biden administration. Hobbs said the correct way to handle the border crisis is to work with the federal government to form solutions.

Hobbs added that two Border Patrol agents endorsed her border plan; however, one of those agents, David Hathaway, has denied the border crisis is real.

Lake also participated in an interview with KYMA and offered an opposing response.

“No. We won’t be removing those until we can finish President Trump’s wall. We’re going to try and fill as many gaps in the wall that we can to prevent people from coming over and stop the flow of deadly fentanyl from pouring across our border,” Lake said. “Any barrier is better than a wide-open gap.”

She also agreed with Ducey’s decision to stand his ground and fight back against the government’s demands.

Ducey began his mission to fill border gaps in the Yuma wall in August, saying that it had taken too long for the federal government to resolve the border crisis.

“Arizona has had enough,” Ducey said when announcing his plan. “We can’t wait any longer. The Biden administration’s lack of urgency on border security is a dereliction of duty. For the last two years, Arizona has made every attempt to work with Washington to address the crisis on our border. Time and time again we’ve stepped in to clean up their mess. Arizonans can’t wait any longer for the federal government to deliver on their delayed promises.”

It took workers 11 days to complete the first project, which covered over 3,000 feet of open sections along Yuma’s border wall. The project cost $6 million from Arizona’s border wall creation fund.

In October, the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) sent Ducey a letter demanding he remove the barriers because his actions violated federal law. The Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs refuted this claim, arguing that Ducey has the right under the Constitution to protect Arizona when the federal government has not done so.

Ducey refused to comply with the BOR’s demands and started another project setting up more barriers in Cochise County. In a Monday update, the outgoing governor said that over 6,000 feet of the border had been covered in the last two weeks, with more to come.

– – –

Neil Jones is a reporter for The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Neil on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Katie Hobbs” by Katie Hobbs. Photo “Kari Lake” by Kari Lake. Background Photo “Ducey’s Border Wall” by Gov Doug Ducey.

 

Related posts

Comments