A government surplus company called GovPlanet recently listed pieces of the border wall for auction. These auction posts, which have since been removed, fueled debates about why border wall materials weren’t set aside for future use or new construction.
President-elect Donald Trump, who has pledged to continue building the wall, publicly condemned the sales of unused pieces during a Monday press conference.
"I'm asking today, Joe Biden, to please stop selling the wall," Trump said. "The administration is trying to sell it for five cents on the dollar, knowing that we're getting ready to put it up."
But the federal government is actually required to sell these excess pieces, and the process started months ago. The Department of Defense told media outlets that it must use, transfer, or donate all excess wall construction materials because of the National Defense Authorization Act.
The official said that the materials were divided up, with 60% going to authorized recipients like Texas, California, or U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The other 40% was sold to GovPlanet back in June, so the pieces that were up for auction no longer belong to the government.
The DoD says Texas did request some of those materials and later received them.
MORE: https://news4sanantonio.com/news/immigration-crisis-podcast/texas-hits-roadblock-in-plan-to-purchase-border-wall-parts-at-auction
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