President Donald Trump has filed an amicus brief to “immediately” stop the lame-duck Biden administration’s sale of border wall materials.
Trump submitted the filing late Thursday in support of a legal effort by Texas and Missouri.
The states are appealing to the courts to stop the outgoing administration’s rush to sell off the border wall materials before President Joe Biden leaves office next month.
Trump’s amicus brief asserts that the action is “possibly criminal.”
Texas and Missouri filed a motion earlier this week in a district court in the southern district of Texas.
The motion seeks to hold a status conference to determine if the federal government is in breach of the court’s permanent injunction from earlier this year.
That injunction barred the Biden admin from using funds obligated for wall construction for anything other than that purpose.
Trump’s amicus brief states:
“The Court should issue an order directing the Defendants to immediately stop any ongoing sale of border-barrier materials to private parties pending the Court’s review of Defendant’s conduct, and the Court should swiftly conduct a searching examination of the Government’s conduct, by formal discovery if necessary, to examine the Government’s compliance with the law, the Constitution, and the Court’s injunction.”
The Biden admin has been auctioning off border wall parts since at least 2023.
Materials and parts have been listed for sale on auction marketplaces at drastically reduced prices.
The sell-off came after the Biden admin abruptly shut down most border wall construction in 2021.
Those auctions have continued, with border officials revealing that auctions now occur weekly and have been for some time.
However, the practice made news last week, when The Daily Wire published a video showing parts being transported across the country.
The report cited Border Patrol agents who said the goal was to clear them out before Christmas.
According to the outlet, “Biden is racing to auction off unused border wall materials” “before Trump takes office.”
WATCH:
EXCLUSIVE: Weeks before Trump takes office, Biden is racing to auction off unused border wall materials.
Video shows trucks hauling wall materials off the border to a government auction site, where a massive amount of wall is waiting to be sold. pic.twitter.com/ogaQMBHw7R
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) December 12, 2024
Trump’s amicus brief states that if officials in the Biden administration are “deliberately selling off border-wall materials at a major financial loss to the Government to obstruct the pro-wall policy of Congress and President Trump, such conduct likely constitutes a criminal act, such as a conspiracy to defraud the United States.”
“At the very least, the reported conduct raises troubling concerns of potentially criminal behavior,” the filing states.
The mass sell-off has provoked outrage from Republicans, who see the auctions as a move to stop the Trump administration from building the wall.
Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) introduced legislation this week to put a halt to the auctions.
Meanwhile, Trump said on Monday he had been working with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and others to purchase the materials.
“What they’re doing is really an act, it’s almost a criminal act,” he said.
“They know we’re going to use it, and if we don’t have it, we’re going to have to rebuild it.
“And it’ll cost double what it cost years ago, and that’s hundreds of millions of dollars because you’re talking about a lot of, a lot of wall.”
Paxton said in a statement that 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,” he said.
Texas has said it intends to do all it can to help the incoming administration build the wall at the southern border when Trump enters office.
In a statement, Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham said:
“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.”
“I made a promise to use every tool at my disposal from the GLO to secure our border and protect Texans,” Buckingham added.
“That is why I have offered state leaders and President-elect Donald Trump the opportunity to store any wall panels his incoming administration may acquire on state land.
“I will never give up the fight to secure our porous southern border and protect our sons and daughters from violent, criminal illegal immigrants.”
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