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| - Leftover materials from the border wall were indeed auctioned off, as required by a bill introduced by a Republican lawmaker in April 2023 and enacted that December. The legislation required that the secretary of defense submit a plan "to use, transfer, or donate" all "excess construction materials on southwest border" no later than 75 days after the enactment of the law, and to start executing the plan no later than 100 days after submitting the plan, "until the date on which the Department of Defense is no longer incurring any costs to maintain, store, or protect the covered materials."
However, the Department of Defense had sold all materials to auction platform GOVPLANET in a June 2024 contract, months before Trump was reelected. The sale had nothing to do with the timeline of Trump's accession to the White House.
A rumor that U.S. President Joe Biden was auctioning off part of the border wall between the U.S. and Mexico spread in December 2024, weeks before President-elect Donald Trump was due to take the oath of office for a second time — spurring criticism that Biden was sabotaging Trump's signature project during his first administration as well as wasting taxpayer money. For example, an X account that comments on U.S. immigration policy and uses the name and image of Trump's pick for "border czar," Tom Homan, posted on Dec. 12, 2024 (archived):
In a last ditch effort to prioritize illegal aliens being allowed to cross our border, the Biden administration is now selling off material for the border wall in Arizona.
All in effort to sell as much as they can before Christmas time.
If you're unaware America, this same tactic was used by the Biden Administration around October of last year when materials that were meant for 20-mile stretch of border wall started to be sold off.
The safety and security of American citizens never seem to be a priority for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
It makes one wonder why.
The post had garnered 107,000 views and 5,600 likes as of this writing. "This can't be legal," one X user wrote in response. "Why does this administration want to weaken the United States and allow our enemies easy passage across our borders?"
The uproar started with a report from The Daily Wire, a conservative news outlet, showing materials in transport. In a post on X, The Daily Wire suggested that the Biden administration was rushing to sell off all materials before Trump took office (archived):
As we will see, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) had indeed been selling leftover border wall materials. However, the sale began in June 2024, months before Trump was elected. Not only was the move legal, it was required by legislation introduced by a Republican lawmaker and enacted in December 2023. For this reason, we rated the claim as mixture of true and false.
Congress Forced the Sale of Excess Parts
In selling the leftover parts of the southern border wall, the Biden administration was complying with legislation introduced by Rep. Mike Rogers, a Republican from Alabama, and signed into law Dec. 22, 2023. Section 2890 of the law, known as the National Defense Authorization Act, compelled the DOD to submit a plan "to use, transfer, or donate" all "excess construction materials on southwest border" no later than 75 days after the enactment of the law, and to start executing the plan no later than 100 days after submitting the plan, "until the date on which the Department of Defense is no longer incurring any costs to maintain, store, or protect the covered materials."
As part of this plan, the department transferred and donated nearly 60% of the materials to "authorized recipients," a DOD spokesperson said in an emailed response to our request for comment. These included "U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the states of Texas and California."
"The remaining 40% was sold to GOVPLANET under a competitive sales contract process beginning in June 2024," the spokesperson added. "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." GOVPLANET is an online auction platform for used government assets.
Indeed, The Daily Wire had included in its report a search on the GOVPLANET website that revealed one remaining auction for such materials, scheduled for Dec. 18, 2024:
(GOVPLANET)
As of this writing, the auctions had been removed from the website, however. We contacted the website asking for an explanation and we will update this report should they respond.
Congress Forced Biden's Hand To Keep Building the Wall
The sale caused all the more uproar because the wall's construction was ongoing. When Biden took office, he vowed to stop the construction of the border wall. However, construction resumed in June 2023, after Biden asked Congress to reallocate the funds appropriated in 2019, during Trump's first term. When Congress refused, Biden was forced to use the funds to continue building the wall, The Associated Press quoted him as saying in October 2023. Asked if he believed such a wall was effective in slowing immigration, Biden said "No," according to the same report.
Legally, when Congress has appropriated money, it must be spent and it cannot be reallocated without legislative consent, according to the appropriations rules, which Snopes reported on in October 2024.
In order to resume construction, the secretary of homeland security waived 26 statutes protecting wildlife, the environment and archaeological and historical sites, according to a notice the department posted on The Federal Register on Oct. 5, 2023.
In 2022, the Biden administration had already donated $6 million worth of wall parts to Texas, so it could build its own wall.
Meanwhile, Trump said on Dec. 16, 2024, that the materials should not be sold, calling it an "almost criminal act," despite the congressional requirement.
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