President Trump reportedly wants the U.S.-Mexico border wall to get a new paint job.
According to a report published by the Washington Post on Wednesday, Trump suggested to advisers painting the southern border wall with black paint to make it too hot for illegal immigrants to touch in the summer months and to enhance its appearance.
Trump spoke with Jared Kushner, his son-in-law and senior adviser, about the project last month, along with other aides amid the coronavirus pandemic, asking them to obtain cost estimates for the paint job. The aesthetic would reportedly cost an additional $500 million.
“POTUS has changed his mind and now wants the fence painted. We are modifying contracts to add,” an unnamed official told the Washington Post.
The president is said to have favored the idea for years in hopes that the paint would discourage illegal migrants from attempting to climb the border. The report noted that Trump also favored “flat black” or “matte black” paint because of its ability to absorb heat and deter rusting.
The White House did not respond for publication.
The idea would not be among the first of Trump’s unorthodox proposals to make additions to the southern border wall. In the summer of 2017, the president floated coating the border wall with solar panels to generate environmentally friendly energy, an idea that has not come to fruition.
“There is a chance that we can do a solar wall,” Trump told reporters at the time. “We have major companies looking at that. Look, there’s no better place for solar than the Mexico border — the southern border.”
Trump has promised to build 450 miles of border wall by the end of 2020.
Data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection show crews have completed 175 miles of new border barriers so far. Border Patrol Chief Rodney Scott said on Monday that 196 miles of the wall system were under construction while 360 miles of barrier were in pre-construction.
