A federal judge in Texas ruled in a virtual hearing on Dec. 27 that federal agencies cannot sell US-Mexico border wall materials, such as steel bollards, before President-elect Donald Trump. structural pipes, concrete and fences purchased during the first Trump administration. resumes the position on January 20.
The Biden administration had said in 2023 that it would continue construction of the border wall in Texas on federal land using funds that had been earmarked since 2020 because they could not legally be used for any other purpose.
However, no new work has been done since then other than putting up temporary barriers, and some leftover materials have turned up at auction house Ritchie Bros.’ government surplus website GovPlanet. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said it will comply with the order, which prohibits the administration from selling or giving away border wall materials until Jan. 27, 2025. But many of GovPlanet’s material listings have since disappeared from auction site
Judge Drew Tipton, based in McAllen, also ordered the Biden administration to release records of purchases for $1.4 billion that Congress earmarked to build the wall on the Mexican border. He said the records will help track materials that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton alleged the federal government auctioned off in violation of a May court order requiring the funds to be spent on building walls
Tipton, an appointee of President Trump, had requested an accounting of the materials to determine if they had been illegally removed or sold within the past year. A lawyer for the US Department of Justice claimed at the hearing that the items sold came from funds outside of that court order.
“We have successfully blocked the Biden administration from removing any further material from the border wall” before Trump takes office, Paxton said in a statement.
Trump, whose personal lawyers were part of the lawsuit leading up to the hearing, also noted the ruling on social media, adding that the case had been joined in Missouri.
