On Dec. 16, while speaking at his first press conference since winning the election, President-elect Donald Trump called on the Biden administration to stop selling off sections of the border wall just weeks ahead of his second term. Trump threatened legal action if the sales continue.
The official Trump campaign “war room” account on X posted: “President Trump on the Biden administration selling off sections of his border wall: ‘Now it’s about double the price of what it would’ve been six years ago, and the administration is trying to sell it for five cents on the dollar... It’s almost a criminal act.’”
Multiple VERIFY readers, including Mike, Sandra and Winford, asked if the Biden administration is really selling off sections of the border wall.
THE QUESTION
Is the Biden administration selling off sections of the border wall?
THE SOURCES
- National Defense Authorization Act for 2024
- U.S. Department of Defense
- GovPlanet, an online marketplace that auctions off and sells government surplus equipment
THE ANSWER
No, the Biden administration is not selling off sections of the border wall.
WHAT WE FOUND
The Biden administration is not selling off sections of the border wall. In December 2023, Congress passed the National Defense Authorization Act for 2024, which set the budget for the U.S. Department of Defense and included a provision that requires the DOD to redistribute and sell off unused border wall materials — not sections or parts of the existing wall.
Section 2890 of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2024 was first introduced by Republican lawmakers in the House before it was added to the larger bill. The measure required the Secretary of Defense to submit a detailed plan to Congress on how the DOD planned to use, donate or sell all of the excess border wall materials that were purchased between fiscal years 2017 through 2022, a period which primarily spanned Donald Trump’s first term in office. President Joe Biden phased out border wall construction when he took office in 2021.
The unused materials were to be redistributed to border states or other federal agencies for construction projects “aimed at stopping illicit human and vehicle traffic along the border of the United States with Mexico,” according to the law. The remaining surplus of materials could be sold to private companies for auction.
On March 14, 2024, the DOD submitted its plan to Congress. A DOD official told VERIFY that the agency has been in the process of redistributing and selling off excess border wall materials as required by Section 2890 since that date.
As of Dec. 13, 2024, the DOD official said that nearly 60% of the unused materials had been redistributed to “authorized recipients outlined in the plan, including U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the border states of Texas and California.”
The remaining 40% of the excess materials were sold to GovPlanet, a private company that operates an online marketplace that auctions off and resells government surplus equipment, in June 2024. The DOD says 26,093 items were either redistributed or sold.
Trump has pledged to resume building the border wall in his second term. During his Dec. 16 press conference, he said that he had spoken to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and other Texas officials about filing a potential restraining order against the Biden administration to stop the sale of the materials.
But the unused materials sold to GovPlanet no longer belong to the U.S. government, according to the DOD official, and the agency has “no legal authority to recall the material or stop further resale of material it no longer owns.”
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a loyal Trump Republican, said in a recent X post that the Texas Facilities Commission was asked to evaluate the materials available for auction on GovPlanet. According to Patrick, the Commission said the materials were “mostly junk, with most panels covered in concrete and rust.”
“Rest assured, if they sell any panels that make economic sense, we will buy them and give them to President Trump when he takes office,” Patrick said.
VERIFY partner station KHOU in Houston, Texas, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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