Noem Says Southern Border Wall Will Be Painted Black to Deter Crossings

• Aug 20, 2025

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced Tuesday that the entire U.S.-Mexico border wall will be painted black, a move she said is intended to make the steel barrier hotter and more difficult to climb.

Speaking during a visit to a section of the wall in New Mexico, Noem said the decision came “specifically at the request of President Trump.” She argued that painting the wall black would take advantage of the region’s high temperatures, making it even harder for migrants to scale the structure.

“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 said. She also took part in the event by picking up a roller brush to help apply paint.

U.S. Border Patrol Chief Mike Banks, who accompanied Noem, added that the black paint could also help reduce rust on the metal.

During Trump’s first term, the border wall was a central part of his immigration policy, although progress faced legal and logistical challenges. In his second term, the focus shifted to mass deportations and interior enforcement, but Congress recently approved about $46 billion for Homeland Security under the Trump-backed One Big Beautiful Bill Act. That funding is meant to ensure completion of the wall.

In addition to the wall, the administration has deployed thousands of U.S. troops to the border. Trump has also authorized the military to take control of narrow stretches of public land along the border, where entry is treated as trespassing on a military base. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said this allows migrants to be detained by both Border Patrol and the Defense Department.

Noem said the government is building about half a mile of new barriers each day, noting that construction varies depending on geography. She added that work is also underway on “water-borne infrastructure” along portions of the Rio Grande River in Texas.

The push to complete the wall comes at a time when illegal crossings have sharply declined. In June, just over 6,000 migrants were apprehended at the southern border — a decades-low figure compared to the Biden administration years, when arrests sometimes reached more than 6,000 per day.