In what is a massive victory for President-elect Donald Trump the administration of President Joe Biden has decided to stop selling materials used to build the Southern border wall.
The administration made the announcement on Friday, weeks ahead of the president-elect’s inauguration, following a court order earlier this year that ordered the administration to spend statutorily obligated funds on the border wall.
During Trump’s first administration, border wall construction was stymied by Democrats and establishment Republicans, but now, with a mandate from the voters, the president-elect is making finishing the wall a top priority again.
The decision by the Biden administration came after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton petitioned a federal court to determine if there was any illegal activity with it selling border wall materials for “pennies on the dollar.”
“Attorney General Ken Paxton secured a victory for President-elect Donald Trump’s border-security agenda during a hearing today before a federal judge. The hearing was called at Attorney General Paxton’s request to uncover potential legal violations committed by the Biden Administration after recent reports that segments of the border wall were auctioned off for pennies on the dollar,” a press release from the Texas attorney general’s office said.
“The Biden Administration confirmed to the court today that it will agree to an order preventing the outgoing administration from disposing of any further border wall materials over the next 30 days—allowing President Trump to use those materials as he sees fit. This will be adopted as an order of the court, making it enforceable if any violations occur,” the press release said.
“Additionally, the court stated that Texas is entitled to documentation proving that the Biden Administration has not violated an injunction secured by Attorney General Paxton in May of 2024 that required the Biden Administration to spend statutorily obligated funds on border wall construction after the federal government attempted to illegally redirect the money. If it is shown that the Biden Administration disposed of border wall materials purchased with funds subject to that injunction in violation of a court order—or that the Department of Justice made misrepresentations regarding the border materials that have been auctioned off—this would constitute unethical and sanctionable conduct, and the responsible parties could be held in contempt of court,” it said.
“We have successfully blocked the Biden Administration from disposing of any further border wall materials before President Trump takes office,” Paxton added.
“This follows our major victory forcing Biden to build the wall, and we will hold his Administration accountable for illegally subverting our Nation’s border security until their very last day in power, especially where their actions are clearly motivated by a desire to thwart President-elect Trump’s immigration agenda,” he said.
Trump also filed an amicus brief with a federal court to stop the Biden administration from continuing the sale of material used to build the border wall.
The brief was filed this month to support a case brought by Texas and Missouri to “immediately” stop the sale of border wall materials, saying the action is “possibly criminal,” Fox News reported.
“The Court should issue an order directing the Defendants to immediately stop any ongoing sale of border-barrier materials to private parties pending the Court’s review of Defendant’s conduct, and the Court should swiftly conduct a searching examination of the Government’s conduct, by formal discovery if necessary, to examine the Government’s compliance with the law, the Constitution, and the Court’s injunction,” the brief said.
The sales have been going on for months, as the administration has secretly been selling the materials for pennies on the dollar. However, a report from The Daily Wire exposed this last week.
The president-elect’s brief says that the Biden administration is “deliberately selling off border-wall materials at a major financial loss to the Government to obstruct the pro-wall policy of Congress and President Trump. Such conduct likely constitutes a criminal act, such as a conspiracy to defraud the United States.”
“At the very least, the reported conduct raises troubling concerns of potentially criminal behavior,” it said.