What's New
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton submitted a motion on Tuesday to halt the sale of sections of the border wall.
Paxton said in a statement that he took action "following reports that the Biden administration is illegally selling segments of the border wall at the United States-Mexico border."
It comes after reports emerged that material intended for the wall was removed in Arizona and set for auction, just weeks before President-elect Donald Trump, the barrier's staunchest advocate, returns to the White House to implement his hard-line immigration agenda.
Newsweek contacted the White House for comment via email outside of normal office hours.
Why It Matters?
Video footage obtained by The Daily Wire revealed sheets of the border wall being towed near Tucson, Texas, en route to a government surplus equipment auction site called GovPlanet.
A narrow majority of respondents support Trump's flagship border wall policy initiated in 2016, with 53% backing a major expansion of wall construction along the U.S.-Mexico border, a 13-point increase since 2019, according to polling by Gallup.
However, last year, Congress directed President Joe Biden's administration to dispose of unused border wall materials under the National Defense Authorization Act.
The legislation allows for the sale or donation of these materials to southern border states, as long as they are used to repair existing barriers, not construct new ones. Lawmakers also required the Pentagon to provide a report on the storage costs associated with keeping the materials.
What To Know
Paxton's motion claims the sale of border wall pieces violates a May 2024 federal court order that ruled that the Biden administration must continue border wall construction using roughly $1.4 billion that Congress allocated for a barrier along the southern border that the administration had previously tried to redirect.
The motion asserts that if the sections of the wall being sold were bought with those funds, the Biden administration would violate the federal court order issued in May.
According to his office, Paxton's motion asks the court to intervene and stop any sections of the wall from being sold illegally.
Biden halted border wall construction upon taking office in 2021. His predecessor and soon-to-be successor, Trump, made the wall a central focus of his immigration policy and has promised to resume its construction when he returns to office in January.
What People Are Saying
President-elect Trump at a press conference on Monday: "I'm asking today, Joe Biden, to please stop selling the wall.
Paxton in a statement: "The Biden administration cannot auction off sections of the border wall. If these reports are true, the Biden administration is violating a federal court order.
"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."
Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham said in a statement to Newsweek: "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."
Arizona Republican Representative Eli Crane told The Daily Wire: "The Biden administration is well aware they shouldn't have reversed the construction of the border wall. If it's true, they're purposefully hamstringing an incoming president, it wouldn't be shocking (...) Why would they want to see President Trump succeed with policies they aggressively sabotaged?"
What Happens Next
With Trump set to return to the White House in January, construction on the wall is expected to resume once the incoming administration takes office.
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