President-elect Donald Trump filed an amicus brief late Thursday in support of a legal effort by Texas and Missouri to “immediately” stop the Biden administration’s sale of border wall materials, saying the action is “possibly criminal.”
Texas and Missouri filed a motion earlier this week in a district court in the southern district of Texas to hold a status conference to determine if the government is in breach of the court’s permanent injunction from earlier this year. That injunction barred the Biden administration from using funds obligated for wall construction for anything other than that purpose.
“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,” Trump’s amicus brief states.
President-elect Donald Trump speaks at a news conference at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort on Dec. 16, 2024 in Palm Beach, Florida. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
The Biden administration has been auctioning off border wall parts since at least 2023 with parts listed for sale on auction marketplaces, after it abruptly shut down most border wall construction in 2021.
Those auctions have continued, with border officials telling Fox that auctions now occur weekly and have been for some time. But the practice made news last week when The Daily Wire published video showing parts being transported, and cited Border Patrol agents who said the goal was to clear it out before Christmas.
Trump’s amicus brief states that if officials in the Biden administration are “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,” the filing states.
GOP SENATOR MOVES TO BLOCK FEDS FROM DISPOSING OF BORDER WALL MATERIALS AMID AUCTION BACKLASH
A defense official told Fox News last week that the Pentagon has been disposing of excess wall construction in accordance with the fiscal year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, which required the defense secretary to submit a plan to use, transfer or donate all remaining wall material purchased with Pentagon funds. That plan was submitted in March.
The official said border states, including Texas, were first offered that material for purchase before auction. The official also said the materials no longer belong to the U.S. government, adding the Defense Department has no legal authority to recall the material or stop further resale of it.
“Through our reutilization, transfer and donation process, nearly 60% of those materials were transferred to authorized recipients, including U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the states of Texas and California,” the official said. “The remaining 40% was sold to GovPlanet under a competitive sales contract process beginning in June 2024. The material currently being sold through GovPlanet online auctions no longer belongs to the U.S. Government, and DOD has no legal authority to recall the material or stop further resale of material it no longer owns.”
CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF THE BORDER SECURITY CRISIS
But those statements have not stopped the outrage from Republicans, who see the auctions as a move to stop the Trump administration from building the wall. Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., introduced legislation this week to put a halt to the auctions.
Trump, meanwhile, said on Monday he had been working with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and others to acquire the materials.
This March 2, 2019, file photo, shows a Customs and Border Control agent patrolling on the U.S. side of a razor-wire-covered border wall along the Mexico border east of Nogales, Ariz. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
“What they’re doing is really an act, it’s almost a criminal act,” he said. “They know we’re going to use it, and if we don’t have it, we’re going to have to rebuild it. And it’ll cost double what it cost years ago, and that’s hundreds of millions of dollars because you’re talking about a lot of, a lot of wall.”
Paxton said in a statement that Texas is going to court to “prevent any border security materials from being unlawfully sold and to find out the truth about what the federal government may be doing to subvert border wall construction.”
“President Trump has an overwhelming mandate from the American people to build the wall and I will do everything in my power to prevent any acts of sabotage by the outgoing administration,” he said.
Texas has said it intends to do all it can to help the incoming administration build the wall at the southern border when Trump enters office.
“The Biden Administration’s latest attempt to block Texas and President-Elect Donald Trump’s efforts to secure the southern border is downright shameful and demonstrates a continued pattern of disregard for the safety of Texas and American families in favor of increasingly disastrous open border policies,” Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
Officials said this week they intend to purchase the auctioned off materials, and Buckingham said she intends to store it on state land for the new administration.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“I made a promise to use every tool at my disposal from the GLO to secure our border and protect Texans,” Buckingham said in the statement to Fox. “That is why I have offered state leaders and President-Elect Donald Trump the opportunity to store any wall panels his incoming administration may acquire on state land. I will never give up the fight to secure our porous southern border and protect our sons and daughters from violent, criminal illegal immigrants.”
Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin contributed to this report.