The Biden administration On Friday, the country said it would stop selling materials used to build a border wall ahead of the new Trump administration, which has promised to reinstate tougher efforts to combat illegal immigration.
The Biden administration confirmed to a court that it would agree to a court order blocking it from disposing of additional border wall materials in the next 30 days, allowing President-elect Trump to use those materials, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said.
The Biden administration has been auctioning off parts of border wall since at least 2023, with parts being put up for sale in auction markets after it abruptly closed most parts Border wall Construction in 2021.
GOP senator seeks to stop governments from dumping border wall materials amid auction backlash
Stacks of unused border fencing sit at one of the border wall construction bases at Johnson Ranch near Columbus, New Mexico on Monday, April 12, 2021. (Photo by Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
President-elect Donald Trump pushed for it the Biden administration to quit. Fox News Digital has reached out to Trump’s representatives.
“We successfully stopped the Biden administration from removing additional border wall material before President Trump took office,” Paxton said.
“This follows our major victory that forced Biden to build the wall, and we will hold his administration accountable for illegally undermining our nation’s border security until its last day in power, especially when its actions are clearly motivated by desire “We are motivated to thwart President-elect Trump’s immigration agenda,” he added.
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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks at a news conference in Dallas on June 22, 2017. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez, File)
In a press release, Paxton’s office said it would constitute unethical and sanctionable conduct for the Biden administration to dispose of border wall materials purchased with funds subject to an injunction in violation of a court order and to hold officials in contempt of court could be. “
Texas said She intends to do everything in her power to help the new administration build the wall on the southern border when Trump takes office.
The Biden administration abruptly stopped construction of the border wall in January 2021 after 450 miles were built under the first Trump administration. While border advocates say a wall is a crucial tool to stop illegal immigration, some Democrats believe a wall project is xenophobic and ineffective.
President Donald Trump tours a section of the border wall in San Luis, Arizona, on Tuesday, June 23, 2020. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Auctioning of parts of the border wall began in 2023, with the pieces listed for sale on GovPlanet.com, an online auction marketplace. The Defense Department’s logistics agency told media that the excess material had been turned over to the Army Corps of Engineers for disposal and was now available for sale.
Those auctions have continued, and officials in Arizona told Fox News Digital that the auctions have been held weekly for some time. The practice gained attention last week when The Daily Wire published a video showing unused wall sections being transported on flatbed trucks in Arizona, even though the materials could be used in the next Trump administration.
Trump had previously described Biden’s efforts as an attempt to sell unused boundary wall materials at a reduced price “almost a crime.”
Trump said the auctions would cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars to buy back the large steel bollards and concrete. He called on President Biden to “please stop selling the wall” and suggested his team would seek an injunction to stop the sale.
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“What they’re doing is really an act, it’s almost a crime,” he said. “You know we’re going to use it, and if we don’t have it, we’re going to have to rebuild it, and it’s going to cost twice as much as it did years ago, and that’s hundreds of millions of dollars because you’re talking about a lot, a lot of wall.”
Fox News Digital’s Adam Shaw, Brooke Singman and Peter Pinedo contributed to this report.
