2 Arizona border wall gaps closed, 50 remain near Sasabe as construction continues

SASABE — Two extensive wall gaps along the Arizona-Mexico border have been closed as 50 smaller gaps remain near Sasabe.

Numerous segments of the 30-foot border wall have been cut in order for erosion control measures to be completed on the Mexican side. These gaps are only covered with a few strings of barbed wire while some larger openings are separated with Normandy vehicle barriers.

The area is about 73 miles southwest of Tucson and intersects the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge.

On a recent morning, a group of about 30 migrants were sitting beneath the shade of a tree near the border wall, waiting for Border Patrol agents to process them. A few miles down the border road, five families composed of about 15 people sat at the foot of the wall.

The gap closure efforts near Sasabe are part of a larger initiative dubbed the Tucson Border Wall System Project that spans roughly 74 miles of border from the Sasabe Port of Entry to Douglas, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The new barrier project, which is under contract, is divided between existing wall segments along the Arizona-Mexico border.

Border wall fencing stretches nearly the length of the Arizona-Mexico border with about 226 miles of bollard fencing erected on federal lands in the state from 2017 to 2021.

“Walls haven't helped anywhere; walls are not the answer,” said Gail Kocourek, the education and media coordinator with Tucson Samaritans.

“It just forces people into more dangerous areas and there will be more deaths.”

Kocourek drives along the border near Sasabe numerous times a week in order to hand out water, food and supplies to migrants.

In December 2021, the Department of Homeland Security authorized CBP to fill border wall gaps, finish incomplete construction and address environmental requirements along the southern border.

All unfinished border barrier projects were previously canceled in June 2021 after President Joe Biden paused construction on the U.S.-Mexico border wall during his first day in office. In an apparent reversal of his campaign promise to not build “another foot” of border wall, Biden recently announced new wall construction in south Texas.

Biden waived 26 federal laws for the construction in Starr County, Texas, as his administration attempts to manage increased numbers of migrants arriving along the southern border.

About 458 miles of barrier have been completed with sites in various stages of construction along the U.S.-Mexico border as of January 2021, per CBP.

Gap closure and gate installations in the Border Patrol's Tucson Sector were announced to take place in September 2022 as part of a CBP border barrier remediation project.

Erosion control measures, revegetation of disturbed areas and the completion of safety work on border and access roads were set to be included in the Tucson sector efforts.

Fourteen gaps near Sasabe are closed with temporary mesh fencing in order for the International Boundary and Water Commission to be able to access and maintain obelisk boundary monuments.

The stone obelisks are used to demarcate the actual international boundary between the U.S. and Mexico.

No trespassing signs are welded onto the rust-colored border wall where armed border vigilantes have been known to camp out in the past.

The signs point to an Arizona criminal trespassing statute and, despite being on federal land, are enforced by the Border Patrol by coupling state and federal laws. The coupling of the statutes allows the Border Patrol to enforce the state trespassing law on people who stop along the border wall in the area.

A humanitarian volunteer was arrested in March by the Border Patrol for stopping along the border road to help give migrant children water.

Have a news tip or story idea about the border and its communities? Contact the reporter at josecastaneda@arizonarepublic.com or connect with him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @joseicastaneda.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona border wall gaps near Sasabe begin closing as 50 remain