The sale of border wall materials in Arizona that were being auctioned on a government website have been taken down, according to Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.
Patrick said Texas was made aware of the materials slated for auction in Arizona on Dec. 12, which was the same day the Daily Wire reported the sale. The next day, Patrick said Texas tried to find the border wall materials on the auction site, but those items were then unavailable.
“Texas was never told in advance about the auction of the usable wall panels. Then, the panels were quickly removed from the auction yesterday. Texas sent a representative to Arizona, and the auctioneers told him they pulled the wall panels from being auctioned off today at the direction of the U.S. Government,” Patrick wrote on social media.
“Governor Abbott and I stand ready to buy them if they do,” he added.
When President-elect Donald Trump left office in 2021, his administration had built 452 miles of border wall for the US-Mexico 1,951-mile border. Only 80 miles of that, however, was a new barrier that had been built where there had been none beforehand. The majority of the 452 miles the Trump administration built replaced existing structures built by previous administrations.
Texas is home to majority of the border in terms of milage. A total of 55 miles were built in the state under Trump along the Rio Grande by El Paso. Around 226 miles, or nearly half of the total number of miles that the Trump administration built, run along the southern border of Arizona.
When President Joe Biden entered office, he announced that his administration would not continue building the border wall like the Trump administration had.
The Department of Defense is required by Congress in section 2890 of the fiscal 2024 National Defense Authorization Act to make a plan to use, transfer, or donate unused border walls.
Defense Department officials said states on the southern border were given preference to request the other border wall materials, with both California and Texas emerging as lead buyers, having requested and received 60% of the materials. The remaining 40%, the officials said, were sold through a competitive sales contract.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Last week, Trump called for President Joe Biden to cease the sale of such material. Trump claimed that the Biden administration made “a deal with the United States to buy [the materials] for pennies, and then they call us and they say, ‘Do you want to buy it back?’”
The wall “really worked, and it worked well, and it’s very expensive to do, and I’m asking Joe Biden to stop his people from giving it away,” Trump said. “It’s something that people can’t even believe is happening. So hopefully, Joe will be able to stop it.”