Republican Doug Ducey, who will hand the keys of his office to his Democratic successor in January, is driving a project that is placing double-stacked old shipping containers through several miles of national forest, attempting to fill gaps in Donald Trump’s intermittent border fencing.

The makeshift new barrier, topped with razor wire and with bits of metal jammed into gaps, stretch for more than three miles through Coronado national forest land, south of Tucson. The governor has announced plans to extend that up to 10 miles, at a cost of $95 million (£78m).

The area is federal land maintained by the US Forest Service, The Guardian reports.

Ducey issued an executive order in August to erect old shipping containers near Yuma, and 11 days later workers had installed 130 of what he described as “22ft-high, double stacked, state-owned, 8,800lb, 9x40ft containers, linked together and welded shut”.

In October, Ducey filed a lawsuit in which he claimed that the federal land along the border known as the Roosevelt Reservation actually belongs to the state, not the US government, and that Arizona has the constitutional right to protect itself against what he termed an invasion, citing “countless migrants” resulting in “a mix of drug, crime and humanitarian issues”.

US attorneys issued a withering response, refuting the claims.

Federal judge David Campbell, based in Phoenix, is presiding over the case, but no hearing has been called yet.

The incoming Arizona governor, Democrat Katie Hobbs, who will assume office on 2 January after beating Republican candidate Kari Lake in the midterm elections, has said she will remove the containers.