President Trump and Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem need the U.S.’s southern border wall painted black to maintain individuals from climbing over it.
Noem made the announcement Tuesday as she visited a phase of the wall in New Mexico, even wielding a curler herself. The wall is already excessive and deep, she stated at a press convention whereas standing in entrance of it, and shortly it is going to be too sizzling to deal with.
“That is specifically at the request of the president, who understands that in the hot temperatures down here when something is painted black, it gets even warmer, and it will make it even harder for people to climb,” Noem stated. “So we are going to be painting the entire southern border wall black to make sure that we encourage individuals to not come into our country illegally.”
FILE – Concertina wire strains the inside of a border wall, one among two separating Tijuana, Mexico, from the USA, June 4, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photograph/Gregory Bull, File)
The paint itself would stave off rust in addition to individuals, stated U.S. Border Patrol Chief Mike Banks, who was available with Noem.
Whereas deportation has been the cornerstone of President Trump’s run as well individuals he thinks shouldn’t be right here, he additionally seeks to forestall them from coming within the first place. The variety of individuals crossing the land border illegally had plummeted by almost 40% earlier this yr.
It isn’t the primary time Trump has tried the colour reboot. He additionally tried to get the wall painted black throughout his first time period, which stood to extend the development value by $500 million, The Washington Publish reported in 2020. The elements that did get painted had been quickly peeling.
Noem didn’t deal with how a lot of the $46.5 billion earmarked for the wall within the so-called Large Stunning Invoice Act would go towards the paint job.
The wall doesn’t lend itself to such therapy alongside your complete 2,000-mile-long border with Mexico, since a lot of that runs alongside the Rio Grande, however Noem addressed that too.
“The border wall will look very different based on the topography and the geography of where it is built,” she stated throughout her press convention Tuesday, including {that a} half-mile of it’s being constructed each day.
Reddit customers lampooned the plan, mentioning, amongst different issues, the existence of nighttime and winter, when the wall would possibly even develop into chilly. For example, temperatures within the border city of Columbus, N.M., fluctuate from an upper-60s excessive to a low within the higher 20s, and related numbers apply to Antelope Wells.
Noem started her journey assessing water harm in Ruidoso, the place flash floods killed three individuals final month. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham stated by way of a spokesperson that she welcomed the secretary’s consideration there.
Passing complete immigration reform laws, Coleman stated, could be more practical than “painting a border wall black to injure people who are seeking a better life.”
Initially Revealed: August 20, 2025 at 8:33 PM EDT
