Kristi Noem has announced the construction of a new seven-mile stretch of President Trump’s border wall in Arizona, reinforcing his administration’s push for stricter immigration control. This comes just a day after the Secretary of Homeland Security revealed a staggering 95% drop in illegal crossings under Trump’s leadership.
The former South Dakota governor, 53, took to social media on Sunday, standing at the border in a U.S. Border Patrol cap and jacket, to make her announcement.
“Everybody, I’m here in Arizona, and right at this spot, you can see where the border wall ends,” Noem stated in a video posted on X. “As of today, we’re starting seven new miles of construction, we’re going to continue to make America safe again.”


This latest push comes as the Trump administration capitalizes on its momentum after making major strides in border security within its first 50 days back in office.
Illegal border crossings have plummeted by 95% compared to numbers under President Joe Biden’s tenure. Recent daily encounters have dropped to historic lows—figures not seen since the Border Patrol first began tracking them.
“Just recently, we saw less than 200 encounters in a day. That’s remarkable. Now our agents can get back to doing their jobs and enforcing the law instead of processing,” Noem told NewsNation in an interview on Saturday.
She made the remarks from Nogales, Arizona, an area in Santa Cruz County once notorious for cartel activity. Smugglers frequently exploited the vast open desert to traffic people and narcotics across the border from Mexico.

Noem credited the drastic decrease in illegal crossings to President Trump’s firm border enforcement policies and the continuation of the border wall project.
Mexican cartels, she warned, are becoming “more desperate” in response to the administration’s aggressive stance on border security.
“They recognize that we’re enforcing our federal laws, that we’re not letting people just walk across the border anymore. We are building a wall, we are securing our borders, and we’re not going to let this illegal activity continue,” she said.
Since Trump returned to office in January, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has arrested over 32,000 people—nearly matching the total number of ICE arrests made during Biden’s entire final year in office.
Noem also shed light on the sophisticated methods cartels are using to smuggle contraband across the border.
“Fentanyl hidden in watermelons. Humans smuggled in trucks. Meth concealed in charcoal. You name it, our Customs and Border Protection field officers are finding it,” she wrote on X.
“Proud of the work our officers are doing to keep America safe at Nogales Port of Entry.”
The message is clear: the Trump administration is taking unprecedented action to secure America’s borders, sending a direct warning to those who seek to undermine the nation’s immigration laws. With border wall construction back in full force, the administration is making its stance known—America’s borders are no longer open for illegal crossings.
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