The US state of Arizona has agreed to remove a temporary wall built by President Donald Trump to keep out illegal immigrants on the border with Mexico, a move that comes after protests over its effectiveness.
The state's Republican governor, who ordered the wall to be built, argued that it would stop the flow of immigrants into America.
However, those who have filed legal challenges against the wall have questioned this reasoning.
The government spent at least $80 million to build this wall, made from more than 900 shipping containers.
Arizona shares a 600-kilometer border with neighboring Mexico. A large section of the border has been fenced since Donald Trump became president in 2017. Governor Doug Ducey began building a temporary barrier in the Coronado National Forest earlier this year. But the US government sued him last week, claiming the seven-kilometer-long wall encroaches on federal land.
However, after an agreement with the federal government on Wednesday, the Ducey-led administration said that “all previously constructed shipping containers and associated equipment, materials, vehicles and other items will be removed by early January.”
The Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group working in the area, filed two lawsuits against the wall.
The organization claims that the container wall has divided an important protected forest, blocking the habitat of endangered animals and their drinking water sources and migration routes.
Russ McSpadden, a member of the organization, told AFP that the cameras he used to track local wildlife had never captured any images of illegal immigration. He realized that the wire fence that was previously in place was a sufficient barrier.
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