Officials in Texas are ready to buy up border wall materials being auctioned off by the federal government. They plan to hold onto them until the Trump administration takes office in January.
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick reacted to reports of ongoing auctions of wall parts left near the border after construction stopped in 2021.
"I will bid on all of that wall, and we will buy it in Texas, and we will give it to Donald Trump," Patrick said on "The Ingraham Angle."
"I’ve got a billion dollars in my pocket to do it," he added.
Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham backed him up. She offered state land as storage for the materials.
"If you buy it, I have a place to store it — on state land! The [Texas General Land Office] is standing by to help!" she said. Buckingham called the Biden administration’s auctions of the materials "shameful."
The Biden administration ended border wall construction in January 2021. At that point, 450 miles of the wall had been built under Trump. While some view the wall as critical for stopping illegal immigration, others have argued it’s ineffective and xenophobic.
Auctions of unused wall materials began in 2023 on GovPlanet.com, an online auction site. The Defense Department’s logistics agency said the materials had been turned over for sale by the Army Corps of Engineers.
Officials in Arizona confirmed to Fox News Digital that auctions have been taking place weekly. Attention grew last week after The Daily Wire released video of wall materials being hauled away on trucks.
Trump, who has promised to restart construction next month, called the auctions "almost a criminal act." He urged the Biden administration to stop selling the materials.
A defense official said the Pentagon has been disposing of the materials under the FY 2024 National Defense Authorization Act. The law required the Defense secretary to submit a plan for the unused wall parts. That plan was sent in March.
The official said border states like Texas and California were prioritized for the materials. Both requested and received portions of the wall parts.
"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 official said. "The remaining 40% was sold to GOVPLANET under a competitive sales process beginning in June 2024."
The official added the materials currently for sale no longer belong to the U.S. government. "DoD has no legal authority to recall the material or stop further resale of material it no longer owns."
Texas has already shown it’s ready to assist Trump’s incoming administration. The state remains eager to secure the border and help with mass deportation efforts.