BORDER WALLWhy Were Border Wall Materials Put Up for Auction? Here's What You Should Know.
Some Texas lawmakers including Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick slammed the Biden administration over the auction of wall materials. But the sale was directed by Congress —and Texas has already bought some of it.
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick took to X on a couple of weeks ago, claiming President Joe Biden was attempting to auction off materials intended for construction of a border wall “for pennies on the dollar in secret.”
Some members of Congress made similar claims on social media and in interviews that the Biden administration was selling pieces of usable material to stifle wall-building efforts just a month before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. Trump also weighed in, calling the auction an “almost a criminal act” during a press conference Monday.
“I’m asking today, Joe Biden, to please stop selling the wall,” Trump said.
The sale, however, was ordered last year by Congress, and Texas had already received material from the federal government — and purchased more earlier this year.
Here’s what you should know about the controversy:
What’s being sold and why?
The Trump administration invested $15 billion in border wall construction, buying material with the intent of constructing hundreds of miles of barriers across the southwest border. Most of the construction replaced or updated already-existing barriers, and today 140 miles of barrier — mostly built before the Trump administration — lines the Texas-Mexico border.
Trump estimated in his press conference Monday that about 200 miles’ worth of material was still unused after he left office and Biden halted most wall construction (some wall construction continued under Biden).
The plan for the unused material was decided in 2023, when Congress passed the annual National Defense Authorization Act and Republican lawmakers added a section directing federal officials to submit a plan to Congress on how to dispose of excess border wall material.
The Department of Defense submitted its plan in March, allowing the transfer of material to U.S. Customs and Border Protection and states, with a preference for southwest border projects. Congress required that any materials received by states be used to maintain current border barriers.
CBP, Texas and California received more than 60% of the material through a “reutilization, transfer, and donation process,” according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Patrick said in a Fox News interview Thursday that Texas also bought $12 million worth of material during a summer auction, enough to build about four miles of border wall.
