Shipping containers once part of Arizona border wall transformed into homes for youth leaving foster care

The makeshift wall along the U.S.-Mexico border was created by former Arizona Governor Doug Ducey. Now, its pieces have been given a new life.

In 2022, former Arizona Governor Doug Ducey spent an estimated $82 million to construct a makeshift wall along the United States-Mexico border with shipping containers.

Using over 1,000 containers in the Yuma, Arizona region, the Republican governor covered approximately 3.8 miles — but was later sued by the Department of Justice and agreed to deconstruct the wall.

When current Governor Katie Hobbs — a Democrat — was elected, she said she opposed the wall and, once in office, halted construction once and for all.

“It’s not our land to put things on,” Hobbs told Capitol Media Services in late 2022. “And I think it’s a waste of taxpayer dollars.”

In 2024, Arizona put the shipping containers up for sale, with members of the public eligible to buy them at auction, and nonprofits and government agencies — including a veterans memorial — welcome to purchase them at a flat rate of $2,000 each.

So, that’s what Tucson nonprofit Wholistic Transformation did.