OPINION:
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the southern wall Congress funded and President Donald Trump ordered built will be painted black so it retains heat and makes it more difficult to climb.
Talk about strategic planning. This isn’t just hilarious. It’s genius.
“It’s tall, which makes it very difficult to climb — almost impossible,” Noem said.
Yes. There’s that. Check.
“It also goes deep into the ground, which would make it very difficult, if not impossible, to dig under,” Noem said.
Very good. Well done. Check, check.
“And we are also going to be painting it black,” Noem said. Why? Why, because Trump ordered it so, she said.
“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.
Cue laugh track.
Better yet, cue the Rolling Stones. “Paint It, Black” ought to be informally dubbed the song of American security — and played over loudspeakers as the wall is being painted.
“Illegal border crossings hit decades low under Trump,” Axios reported in July.
That’s called effective leadership. That’s called effective messaging.
Recent U.S. Customs and Border Protection numbers show a total of 25,228 encounters and 8,024 apprehensions nationwide in June — the lowest monthly total in CBP history. Meanwhile, southwest border apprehensions fell by 15 percent from a record that had been set in March — also during Trump’s tenure — with a number that stood at 6,072.
“The agency hit its lowest recorded single-day total on June 28 with only 136 apprehensions,” Axios reported in July.
What a difference from this — a headline from the House Homeland Security Committee in September of 2024: “Biden and Harris’ Border Crisis Still Wreaking Havoc — At The Borders And In The Interior.”
It wasn’t so long ago America was facing a massive surge of illegals who were sucking up the tax dollars with Joe Biden-driven handouts of housing, medical, food, transportation, child care and education benefits. No wonder the world’s poorest — and most criminally minded — wanted to flock to America in the years between January 2021, and January 2025. It was a White House time of see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil — arrest no illegals’ evil. It was a White House time of giving away what the legal citizens worked hard to earn.
Now?
“I wanna see it painted, painted black, black as night, black as coal,” as the lyrics go.
Listen to the rest of the lyrics and it’s clear: The meaning of the song doesn’t really fit the theme of keeping out illegals. But so what?
With Trump in charge, it’s not like they’re going to be around to hear the rest of the lyrics, anyway. By the time the one pertinent line wraps, they’ll have slipped off the wall, their hands too hot to continue climbing.
Safety first, as they say.
And for a few years at least, America first, too.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on X @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter and podcast by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “God-Given Or Bust: Defeating Marxism and Saving America With Biblical Truths,” is available by clicking HERE.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.