When Joe Biden took over the Oval Office, one of his first actions as president was to get rid of the border wall project his predecessor had put into place. Halting the development meant that nearly $300 million worth of wall components, funded by taxpayers, have just been laying around rotting in the desert. While the GOP’s Finish It Act is making its rounds for approval, the Biden administration has been auctioning off the parts and making a profit, according to several sources.
Selling the Border Wall
The Finish It Act, sponsored by Sen. Roger F. Wicker (R-MS) was introduced on May 9, 2023, with the purpose of using the unused border wall components to finish the wall or to give the materials to states that could use it to finish work on their area’s border defenses. According to the proposed bill, since Biden cancelled construction in April 2021, the Department of Defense has spent about $130,000 per day to store the resources.
Critics of Biden’s immigration policies question why, after a year-and-a-half of doing nothing, the administration is now suddenly – and quietly – auctioning off left over border wall material just as Republicans are pushing through the Finish It Act.
GovPlanet, a publicly traded Canadian company, listed several items on its website this month, including “square structural tubes,” or 28-foog-tall hollow beams, that the DoD described to the New York Post as “excess border wall materials that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers turned over to the DLA for disposition and are now for sale.” In fact, according to the Post, the GovPlanet auction schedule picked up in May after the Finish It Act was first introduced, then again this month after the Senate passed the annual defense appropriations package that included a bill sponsored by Republicans to restart construction on the border wall. GOP lawmakers accuse the Biden administration of trying to sell of the material before the House can pass the corresponding legislation.
“This sale is a wasteful and ludicrous decision by the Biden administration that only serves as further proof they have no shame,” Wicker said, condemning it as “outrageous, behind-the-scenes maneuvering.”
“The pennies made from selling the border wall will not be enough to pay the families who suffer from a criminal act committed by someone who crossed our open borders during the Biden administration,” said Sen. James Lankford (R-OK).
“Leaving the border open to terrorists while selling border security materials at a loss is Bidenomics in a nutshell,” bill co-sponsor Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) told the Post.
At the time of this writing, about 81 steel square structural tubes have been sold for a total of around $2 million. “On Tuesday [Aug. 15] officials sold over 700 28ft hollow beams in five separate lots for $212 each. Over a dozen are also up for grabs at auctions over the next two Tuesdays,” Daily Mail revealed. “One listing had 162 nucor tubes on the market for $29,000, which the site later updated to having been sold.”
A spokesperson for the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) told Newsweek:
“USACE has already transferred approximately $154 million worth of the roughly $260 million of bollard panels and other materials in accordance with standard excess property disposition procedures. USACE stands ready to implement a decision regarding disposition of the remaining materials.”
(Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Meanwhile, there have been nearly two million (1,973,092) encounters at the US-Mexico border so far this year, according to Customs and Border Patrol. At the same time in 2022, there had been 1,947,310 encounters, 1,332,845 in 2021, and 350,400 in 2020. Still, the White House claims illegal immigration is slowing down, applauding the president’s policies put into place since Biden took office. Included in that list are the “parole” program, the CPB One smartphone app that the Cartel has reportedly already hacked, and even redefining the Public Charge Rule – all actions to make it easier for aliens to get into America, not measures of security for the border.
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) said, “Biden has no regard for taxpayer dollars – or how his open border is bankrupting communities across the country that are footing the bill for his failures.” Republicans have been holding accountability sessions to highlight Biden’s failure at the border, which will likely be used as evidence to impeach him. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) wrote on social media, “Instead of securing the border, President Biden is auctioning off taxpayer-funded wall materials for pennies on the dollar. He cannot avoid Congress’ accountability and must use these parts for their intended purposes. BUILD the wall and FINISH it!”
Most GOP presidential candidates agree and want to see construction resume. Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) is an avid supporter of building a border wall, and his “no excuses” plan is aimed at getting illegal immigration under control. While Republican Vivek Ramaswamy is also in favor of the divider, he told Fox News the wall is “not enough.” He vowed that as president he would “bolster the barricades with US military personnel fighting the cartels, drug smugglers and people traffickers,” Fox News explained.
