President-elect Trump celebrated the blocked sale of border wall materials following a Friday ruling from a federal judge in Texas.
The incoming president, in a Saturday Truth Social post, called the ruling a “major, crucial WIN for America,” calling out President Biden and “his cronies” for seeking to stall the construction of the border wall, which was a central piece of Trump’s first administration.
“The Judge has also ordered an investigation into the illegal selling of the materials, which will expose just how corrupt and anti-American Radical Democrats are,” he added.
The effort, led in part by the state’s Attorney General Ken Paxton, began amid reports the Biden administration was selling the parts. Last week, Trump asked a Texas court to intervene.
But Congress required the Biden administration to dispose of the materials. The measure, included in the National Defense Authorization Act, allows the sale of items if they are used to repair existing barriers and not install new ones.
Friday’s ruling prohibits the sale of any materials intended for border wall, which Trump says he is “going to rebuild in order to protect our Country from violent migrant crime, fentanyl smuggling, sex trafficking, terror attacks, and other heinous, Nation ending disasters,” over the next 30 days.
Trump first suggested a structure be erected along the United States to prevent illegal immigrants from entering the country during his first campaign for the presidency.
Although Trump campaigned on the notion that Mexico would fund the wall, the neighboring country never cut a formal check for the partition. At the end of Trump’s first term, 694 miles of primary barriers were put in place, according to U.S. Customs and Border patrol.
Texas, per the ruling, is also entitled to documentation that proves that the Biden administration has not disposed of border wall materials, which would violate an injunction from Paxton earlier this year that required the Biden Administration to spend statutorily obligated funds on building the wall.
“This follows our major victory forcing Biden to build the wall, and we will hold his Administration accountable for illegally subverting our Nation’s border security until their very last day in power, especially where their actions are clearly motivated by a desire to thwart President-elect Trump’s immigration agenda,” Paxton wrote in the release.
Republicans made border security a prominent theme in the 2024 election cycle which helped propel the party to victory, gaining a trifecta in Washington.
Trump has promised to carry out the largest deportation in the country’s history and hammer down ambitious immigration policies when he returns to office, with the help of “border czar” Tom Homan.