Biden’s Secret Border Wall Auction Exposed: Here’s What You Need to Know About the Controversy!

On December 18, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick took to social media platform X to claim that President Joe Biden was secretly auctioning off materials intended for the construction of a border wall “for pennies on the dollar.” Similar allegations made by some members of Congress on social media and in interviews, that the Biden administration was selling usable materials to impede future wall-building efforts, just a month before President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration. Trump himself weighed in during a news conference on December 16, describing the auction as “almost a criminal act.”

“I’m asking you today, Joe Biden, to please stop selling the wall,” Trump stated.

However, the sale of these materials was actually mandated by Congress last year. Texas had already received some of this material from the federal government and had purchased additional supplies earlier this year.

Here’s what you need to know about this controversy:

What’s Being Sold and Why?

During his first term, Trump’s administration invested $15 billion in border wall construction, purchasing materials aimed at building hundreds of miles of barriers along the southwest border. Most of this construction involved replacing or updating existing barriers; currently, about 140 miles of barrier line the Texas-Mexico border, with most of it built before Trump’s administration.

Trump estimated that around 200 miles’ worth of material remained unused after he left office and Biden halted most wall construction (though some projects continued under Biden). The plan for disposing of this excess material was decided in 2023 when Congress passed the annual National Defense Authorization Act. Republican lawmakers included a provision requiring federal officials to submit a plan to Congress on how to dispose of excess border wall materials.

In March, the Defense Department submitted its plan, allowing for the transfer of materials to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and states, with a preference for southwestern border projects. Congress stipulated that any materials received by states must be used for maintaining current border barriers.

CBP, Texas, and California received over 60% of these materials through a “reutilization, transfer, and donation process,” according to the Homeland Security Department. Lt. Gov. Patrick mentioned in a Fox News interview that Texas also purchased $12 million worth of material during a summer auction—enough to build approximately 4 miles of border wall.

How Did Wall Materials End Up Being Auctioned?

The remaining 40% of the materials were sold in June to GovPlanet, a government and military surplus company. In December, GovPlanet moved these materials to Arizona and listed them for auction on its website with starting bids as low as $5. This was not GovPlanet’s first time auctioning off border wall materials; they had done so previously in late 2023.

Following an article by The Daily Wire documenting the transfer of these materials to Arizona and suggesting it was an attempt to hinder President-elect Donald Trump’s border security efforts, federal officials requested that GovPlanet remove them from auction. GOP lawmakers such as U.S. Rep. Eric Burlison of Missouri and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas labeled this move as “sabotage” in their social media posts referencing the article.

In his Fox News interview, Patrick framed the auction as a last-ditch effort by Biden to impede future wall construction by discarding usable materials, calling it a “Great Biden Christmas border wall heist.”

How Are Texas Officials Trying to Block the Auction?

Trump stated that he spoke with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on December 16 about blocking the auctions. The next day, Paxton filed a motion alongside Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham in an existing case arguing that the sale to GovPlanet violates a permanent injunction approved by a federal judge in May.

This injunction prevents the Biden administration from redirecting funds intended for wall construction for other purposes but does not specifically mention wall materials. Paxton and Buckingham’s motion argues that since these materials were purchased with restricted funds, selling them to GovPlanet violates this injunction.

“If border wall materials … were sold to third parties,” their motion states, “it is as if DHS took the congressional appropriation and gave the funds to a third party—contrary to this Court’s command that those funds be used solely for ‘the construction of physical barriers.’”

The motion also requests that the federal government provide details on the manufacture date and original funding source for each of the wall materials sold to GovPlanet