PINAL COUNTY, AZ — Sections of the Arizona border wall have been up for sale at a public auction on a government surplus company's website.
The original listing by 'GOVPLANET' showed the starting bids at $5 for a December 18 auction. The listings have since been taken off the website.
The picture below is a screenshot of the webpage taken on December 12 before the listings were removed.
The piles of border fence are sitting on the side of the road outside their facility in Pinal County.
The auction listings have caused an uproar online as people wonder why the wall is being sold when President-elect Donald Trump campaigned on finishing the border wall he began building during his first term in office.
On X, former Republican Arizona Governor Doug Ducey said the auctions were a "last ditch effort to keep America’s borders open by selling off materials the Trump Admin will use to finish the wall."
Right here in AZ, @JoeBiden is attempting a last ditch effort to keep America’s borders open by selling off materials the Trump Admin will use to finish the wall. This decision from President Biden is reckless, will make Arizonans less safe, and should be reversed — immediately. https://t.co/GRmVAvvEGc
— Doug Ducey (@DougDucey) December 13, 2024
Border Patrol Council Vice President Art Del Cueto agreed and said the auction is making line agents upset. He added no matter the reasoning for the auctions, it's a waste of government resources and taxpayer's money
“All of it pretty much could be utilized, they could put down footing pick it back up and use it. Instead, what are they doing? They’re auctioning it off," Del Cueto 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 said.
The Department of Defense responded to ABC15's questions about the auction. They said they were required by Congress in section 2890 of the FY24 National Defense Authorization Act to make a plan to use, transfer, or donate unused border wall.
They said they submitted their plan on March 14, 2024, then "resumed the disposal of border wall material in accordance with the plan on that date."
The Department of Defense said federal agencies had the opportunity to "review and request excess property." They say since March 2024, U.S. Customs and Border Protection requested and received roughly half the border wall material turned in by the Army Corps of Engineers.
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A Department of Defense official told ABC15 that states on the southern border were given preference to request the other border wall materials and that Texas and California both requested and received some. The remaining 40% they say were sold to "GOVPLANET".
"The material currently being sold through GOVPLANET online auctions no longer belongs to the U.S. Government, and DoD has no legal authority to recall the material or stop further resale of material it no longer owns," a defense official said.
According to Customs and Border Protection, it costs $6.5 million to build one mile of border wall.
The full statement from the Department of Defense attributable to a 'defense official' can be read below:
"Since enactment of the FY2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) in December 2023, the Department of Defense has been in the process of disposing of excess border wall construction materials in accordance with Section 2890 of that statute. Through our reutilization, transfer, and donation process, nearly 60% of those materials were transferred to authorized recipients, including U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the states of Texas and California. The remaining 40% was sold to GOVPLANET under a competitive sales contract process beginning in June 2024. The material currently being sold through GOVPLANET online auctions no longer belongs to the U.S. Government, and DoD has no legal authority to recall the material or stop further resale of material it no longer owns."
