Those stacks of border wall materials, once left to rust under a misguided policy, might just be coming back to serve their original purpose.
According to Fox News, the saga of unused border wall components, worth between $260 million and $350 million, took a sharp turn recently as GovPlanet, a government-surplus auction house, struck a deal with the Trump administration to return these materials to federal control over the next 90 days through a third-party contractor.
Let’s rewind to January 2021, when President Joe Biden issued an executive order halting border wall construction, effectively sidelining a project many saw as vital to national security. This decision kicked off a messy process of selling off unconstructed components, leaving taxpayers footing the bill—$130,000 a day, according to Sen. Deb Fischer—for storage and security in places like New Mexico and Arizona. Talk about watching your hard-earned dollars guard a pile of steel in the desert.
Biden’s order didn’t just pause construction; it turned these materials into surplus, with piles of unused fence photographed at staging areas like Johnson Ranch near Columbus, New Mexico, by April 2021. What followed was a fire sale, with GovPlanet listing tens of thousands of bollards, panels, and tubing for auction. One lot of 729 hollow beams fetched $154,200, while ABC-15 Phoenix reported steel panels going for a measly $1 each in sets of five—a steal, unless you’re a taxpayer.
Sen. Joni Ernst didn’t mince words on this debacle: “Materials purchased with hard-earned taxpayer funds were being sold for pennies on the dollar.” She’s not wrong—by the time reports tallied up, only $498,000 had been recouped for materials originally valued at hundreds of millions, per the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It’s the kind of math that makes you wonder if anyone in Washington owns a calculator.
Southwestern states like Texas and California, along with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, managed to take about 60% of the components, with Texas shelling out $12 million for its share, according to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. But the auctions kept rolling, with Texas officials later claiming the sales were equivalent to losing a half-mile of potential wall per day if built as intended. That’s not just a bargain bin; it’s a border security clearance event.
By December, a Texas court halted the auctions for 30 days, with Judge Drew Tipton barring sales and demanding the Biden administration explain possible violations of prior border wall funding rulings. Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham said the sales ignored court orders, while Lt. Gov. Patrick confirmed they’d pause until after a new administration. GovPlanet soon de-listed the materials.
Tipton’s ruling, cited by Texas AG Ken Paxton, questioned whether federal construction funds were being misused. Even after the moratorium expired in January, sales remained stalled, leaving the materials’ fate uncertain—bureaucracy at desert tortoise speed.
Enter GovPlanet’s announcement on a recent Friday, breaking the deadlock with a deal to return the materials “at-cost” to the federal government. Their statement to Fox News Digital was clear: “GovPlanet has reached an agreement, working with the Office of the Border Czar, to return border wall materials.” Finally, a step that doesn’t feel like we’re auctioning off our own safety.
GovPlanet added, “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.” This transfer signals a potential revival of a project many conservatives see as a cornerstone of protecting American sovereignty. It’s not just steel coming back—it’s a symbol of prioritizing borders over political posturing.
The company didn’t shy away from underscoring their intent, stating, “We are expediting the transfer of these materials to support the administration’s border protection plans.” Contrast that with Biden’s 2021 executive order dismissing the wall as “not a serious policy solution,” and you’ve got two visions of America’s future clashing harder than steel on concrete. One side sees a wall as a waste; the other, a necessity—guess which resonates with those tired of open-border experiments?
A White House official offered a tepid nod to Fox News Digital: “Grateful for all third parties who are interested in helping keep America’s borders safe and secure.” It’s a nice sentiment, but after years of watching these materials sold for chump change, forgive the skepticism about whether this gratitude is more than lip service. Actions, not platitudes, are what folks on the right are craving.
Border Patrol union official Art del Cueto told ABC-15 about the auctioned materials, “They could put down footing, pick it back up and use it.” He’s pointing to a practical truth—reuse is possible, but as he added, rebuilding with new taxpayer funds is “insane” after such wasteful sales. It’s a bitter pill when you realize every dollar spent guarding or rebuying could have gone to actual construction.
The 2024 National Defense Authorization Act did mandate a Pentagon plan for transferring or selling these materials, a small win for accountability. But with legal ownership murky—reports suggest the federal government no longer owns some components, now legally held by GovPlanet—it’s a tangled web of red tape. Here’s hoping this return deal cuts through the mess without costing taxpayers another dime.
At the end of the day, this development with GovPlanet offers a glimmer of hope for those who believe strong borders make strong nations. It’s not just about steel panels or bollards; it’s about whether America commits to safeguarding its frontiers or keeps playing political ping-pong with security. Let’s see if this transfer over the next 90 days builds more than just a wall—maybe, just maybe, it rebuilds some trust in government priorities.
