'Junk': Texas lt. gov. says Biden's border wall sale a 'ruse' to appease far-left
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick believes the Biden administration's purported plans to sell unused parts of the wall on the United States-Mexico border is a "ruse" designed to appease the "radical left."
Patrick, a Republican, noted in an X post Friday that he spoke with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott about "purchasing 'wall' material President Biden is auctioning off."
He said the Texas Facilities Commission told the state's leaders that "the material for sale was mostly junk, with most panels covered in concrete and rust." Patrick concluded that "this was a Biden ruse to gain favor with the radical left open border crowd, showing Biden was fighting [President-elect Donald] Trump to the bitter end."
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"There were a few panels that might be usable but not worth the cost of shipping to Texas from Arizona," Patrick acknowledged, vowing that if the outgoing administration sells "any panels that make economic sense, we will buy them and give them to President Trump when he takes office."
The Daily Wire published a report last week featuring testimony from a U.S. Border Patrol agent alleging that the Biden administration planned to sell unused sections of the border wall.
Biden halted construction of the border wall that former President Trump started building upon taking office in January 2021, a factor the president's opponents believe is partly responsible for the surge in illegal immigration into the U.S.
"They are taking it from three stations: Nogales, Tucson, and Three Points," the immigration law enforcement official told the outlet. "The goal is to move all of it off the border before Christmas."
The unnamed border official estimated that up to one-half a mile of border wall was being moved per day.
Video footage obtained by The Daily Wire shows unfinished portions of the border wall being loaded onto the back of a truck and several stacks of border wall awaiting sale at a U.S. government auction site.
Screenshots from the website for GovPlanet, which auctions off unused government equipment, show that panels of the border wall are available at a starting price of $5.
The National Defense Authorization Act of 2024, approved by members of both parties, authorizes the U.S. Secretary of Defense to "submit to Congress a plan to use, transfer, or donate to States on the southern border of the United States" what Congress has described as "excess construction materials on [the] southwest border."
Under the legislation, states seeking to purchase the material must confirm their intent to use it for "refurbishment and or maintenance of ports of entry along the southwest border and construction projects aimed at stopping illicit human and vehicle traffic along the border of the United States with Mexico."
Illegal immigration and the topic of immigration as a whole remain heavy on the minds of Americans.
Exit polling from the 2024 presidential election shows that 53% of Americans trusted Trump over Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, to handle immigration policy better.
Trump made the issue one of the centerpieces of his campaign, signaling his intent to restore the immigration policies implemented during his first term.
According to statistics provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, there have been more than 7 million encounters between border enforcement officials and illegal immigrants at the southwest border since the beginning of fiscal year 2022, which marks Biden's first full year in office.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
