by Jennie Taer
For months, the Biden administration has been “disposing” of portions of the Trump border wall to be auctioned off, a local official at the southern border and the Department of Defense (DOD) told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The auction house GovPlanet has been selling off the “thick wall tubes” and other wall materials since April, according to listings on its website, and has already sold hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of wall materials. The Pentagon confirmed that the Biden administration is “disposing” of portions of the border wall construction materials in a statement to the DCNF.
“The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is disposing of the excess border wall materials in accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation,” Pentagon spokeswoman Raini Brunson told the DCNF.
The profits from the auction are going to the Pentagon, according to the New York Post.
GovPlanet was reportedly instructed by the Department of Defense to avoid mentioning Trump when marketing the wall materials, according to the Daily Upside, which first reported the auction.
“We are legally not allowed to mention these are the border wall materials, or we could lose our jobs,” one GovPlanet source told the outlet. “But that’s what they are – 110 percent.”
Dozens of border wall construction materials worth thousands of dollars still remain for auction on GovPlanet’s website.
“USACE has already transferred approximately $154 million worth of the roughly $260 million of bollard panels and other materials in accordance with standard excess property disposition procedures. USACE stands ready to implement a decision regarding disposition of the remaining materials,” Brunson said.
It’s upsetting for Yuma County Supervisor Jonathan Lines, who has been waiting for the Biden administration to fill in major gaps in Arizona’s border wall. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced more than one year ago that they will close the gaps at Yuma’s Morelos Dam, which is one of the largest entry points for illegal immigrants.
The wall closing off the gaps at the dam is still under construction, Lines told the DCNF.
“Everything to complete the wall was already in place on the ground and purchased and now they have gone out and redesigned the enclosures for the gaps. This is an example of government waste at its finest,” Lines told the DCNF.
“They have been using a different product, but our panels in Yuma that are complete are still there,” Lines said, referring to the ongoing construction to fill the border wall gaps in the area.
Meanwhile, illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border surged roughly 33% between June and July, when Border Patrol encounters increased from roughly 99,000 to more than 132,000.
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Jennie Taer is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
