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FIRST ON FOX: The global government-surplus auction house that listed unused components of President Donald Trump’s border wall under the Biden administration told Fox News Digital on Friday that it plans to coordinate with the Trump administration to return some of the materials to the federal government.
In January 2021, President Joe Biden set in motion the chain of events that would eventually lead to the sale of unconstructed border wall components and implements.
“Like every nation, the United States has a right and a duty to secure its borders and protect its people against threats. But building a massive wall that spans the entire southern border is not a serious policy solution,” Biden said in an executive order halting construction.
Until Friday, the ultimate fate of the unused border wall materials – originally estimated to be worth between $260 million and $350 million – remained largely unclear. A contentious court battle in Texas last December resulted in a 30-day freeze on the auctions, but little has publicly transpired since.
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In a statement to Fox News Digital, GovPlanet – an auction clearinghouse for public-sector and government surplus – announced Friday they have reached a breakthrough deal with the Trump administration.
“GovPlanet has reached an agreement, working with the Office of the Border Czar, to return border wall materials that were previously deemed surplus and sourced by the federal government to GovPlanet via existing contracts,” said the company, a subsidiary of an Illinois-founded, British Columbia-based international operation called Ritchie Brothers Auctioneers-RB Global.
“A third-party firm that has been contracted for construction of the border wall will take receipt of the materials over the next 90 days,” GovPlanet added.
GovPlanet officials said they were pleased to work with the administration to return the materials “at-cost” to the feds and “protect the millions of dollars that U.S. taxpayers had already invested in this initiative.”
“We are expediting the transfer of these materials to support the administration’s border protection plans. We value our longstanding partnership with the U.S. government and look forward to continuing to support America’s federal agencies.”
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Asked about the claim from the auction house, a White House official told Fox News Digital the Trump administration is “grateful for all third parties who are interested in helping keep America’s borders safe and secure.”
After Biden’s order freezing construction, which ultimately led to the erstwhile auctions, Sens. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., and Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, said taxpayer money was being spent by the Pentagon to guard the materials as they languished in the New Mexico desert.
A 2023 release from Fischer cited a $130,000-per-day figure for the storage and security of the panels in New Mexico and Arizona.
A provision in the annual 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) required the Pentagon to submit a plan for transfer or sale of the materials.
About 60% of the border wall components were transferred to southwestern states like Texas and California as well as U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick told Fox News at the time that Texas purchased about $12 million from an auction.
Tens of thousands of bollards, panels and components, including structural tubing, were later put up for auction on GovPlanet.
Dozens of lots of materials were listed for auction by August 2023, according to the New York Post. The paper cited a $154,200 payday for 729 “hollow beams,” in one example.
Screenshots on ABC-15 Phoenix’s website showed 33-foot by 8-foot steel wall panels being sold for $1 apiece in sets of five.
Ernst lambasted the administration upon the news, saying that materials purchased with hard-earned taxpayer funds were being sold for “pennies on the dollar.”
By that time, a total of $498,000 had been paid for the overall materials, according to Newsweek. The outlet cited the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in confirming the implements were being marketed in accordance with federal acquisition regulations.
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But, the trail began to go cold after that hot summer, as Lt. Gov. Patrick informed Hearst Newspapers in December he had been told that any further sales would be frozen until after Trump’s second inauguration.
Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham argued in court that the Biden administration was ignoring prior court orders by selling off the components, according to the Houston Chronicle.
GovPlanet appeared to de-list the items around that time.
In a Dec. 27 ruling, Texas federal Judge Drew Tipton barred the selling of wall materials for 30 days, according to Law & Crime.
The outlet added, citing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, that Tipton further asked the Biden administration to explain whether it violated a prior ruling in Texas’ favor that required certain funds be spent on border wall construction.
Texas had claimed Biden’s auctions were netting buyers wall components at a rate that would have added up to about a half-mile per day, if constructed as Trump originally intended.
There appeared to have been little movement on the sales since the 30-day moratorium expired in January, until Fox News Digital contacted GovPlanet on Friday.
Several reports said the federal government no longer owns the border wall components the Biden administration set for auction, and that GovPlanet/RBGlobal legally possesses them.
Art del Cueto, a Border Patrol union official, told ABC-15 that the stock cited in reports on the sales could “pretty much be utilized.”
“They could put down footing, pick it back up and use it,” he said.
“When you have to start with the new administration, wanting to rebuild it, what are we going to have to do, you’re going to have to use more taxpayer-funded money, which is insane to me,” del Cueto added.
Fox News Digital reached out to Patrick’s office and DHS for comment.
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