By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services
Key Points:
- Arizona spent $100 million building and $70 million removing a border wall
- Gov. Hobbs is now seeking federal reimbursement for those costs
- Big Beautiful Bill has $10 billion in available grants for border wall funding
As secretary of state, Katie Hobbs blasted then-Gov. Doug Ducey in 2022 when he spent about $100 million erecting a “wall” of storage containers along the border, calling it a “publicity stunt.”
And her assessment continued after the state was forced to remove them — at a cost of $70 million more — following the Biden administration’s filing of a lawsuit, which charged that the barriers were illegal.
But Hobbs, who replaced Ducey in January 2023, said she now wants the federal government to reimburse Arizona for all the money spent by her predecessor.
The governor noted that the recently approved federal legislation — originally dubbed the Big Beautiful Bill — has $10 billion available for grants to states that have paid for border barriers or other security measures since January 20, 2021. That date is not random; it is the day President Joe Biden was inaugurated.
