AUSTIN (KXAN) — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a motion Tuesday to stop the sale of pieces of the border wall.
Paxton said in a press release that he took action “following reports that the Biden Administration is illegally selling segments of the border wall at the United States-Mexico border.”
Paxton’s motion claims the sale of border wall pieces violates a May 2024 federal court order that ruled the Biden Administration must continue border wall construction using roughly $1.4 billion Congress allocated for a barrier along the U.S.-Mexico border that the administration had previously tried to redirect.
The motion states that if the sections of the wall that are being sold were purchased with those funds, then the Biden Administration would be in violation of the May federal court order.
President-Elect Donald Trump on Monday also called for the Biden administration to stop selling border wall materials.
Paxton’s motion asks the court to intervene and prevent any sections of the wall from being sold illegally, according to his office.
The White House has not responded to the motion.
On Friday, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick posted on his X account about the border wall auctions, saying the State of Texas would buy any pieces of the wall that are being auctioned off in Arizona and donate them to the incoming Trump administration if it makes “economic sense.”
Patrick’s post said the Texas Facilities Commission, the agency in charge of building the Texas border wall, had reviewed parts of the Arizona border wall that were being auctioned off on an auction site that specializes in government surplus, Gov Planet.
The TFC said the materials up for sale were “mostly junk, with most panels covered in concrete and rust. There were a few panels that might be usable but not worth the cost of shipping to Texas from Arizona,” according to Patrick’s message on social media.
Also Wednesday, Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham offered state leaders and President-elect Donald Trump more land to store any wall panels that the incoming administration might acquire.
“I will never give up the fight to secure our porous southern border and protect our sons and daughters from violent, criminal illegal immigrants,” Buckingham said.
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