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Wednesday, Jul. 3, 2024

Are gates along the Arizona border being left open?

Carmela Guaglianone, Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting
yes

Gates along Arizona’s southern border are left open during the state’s monsoon season to prevent flood waters from damaging the border wall and to mitigate environmental harm. The gates are monitored using surveillance technology and not considered to be “unsupervised” by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. 

Unregulated flooding could undermine the stability of the border structure or block access roads to the border, making it more challenging for emergency personnel and border patrol officials to respond to any border activity. 

The Tucson segment of the Arizona border is designed with adjustable panels along river floodplains that are lifted to allow floodwaters to pass through during late summer storms.

Newer areas of the border wall, constructed under the Trump Administration, do not have built-in flood panels. Along this segment, regular gates are left open to minimize flood damage. 

See a full discussion of this at Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting

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Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by Gigafact contributor publications.

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The Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting is the state’s only independent, nonpartisan and collaborative nonprofit newsroom dedicated to statewide, data-driven investigative reporting. AZCIR's mission is to hold powerful people and institutions accountable by exposing injustice and systemic inequities through investigative journalism.

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