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Did Trump say we should dig a moat and put snakes and alligators in it to keep immigrants out of the us
Executive summary
Reporting based on a New York Times excerpt and subsequent coverage says Donald Trump privately suggested fortifying a border wall with “a water-filled trench, stocked with snakes or alligators,” and aides at times sought cost estimates — a claim Trump has denied publicly [1] [2]. Multiple news outlets, civil-liberties groups and later commentators cited or repeated the Times reporting; some context and pushback about tone and intent appear in Trump’s denials and in later commentary [3] [2] [4].
1. What the reporting says: a bizarre border deterrent idea
The contemporaneous media accounts trace the anecdote to an excerpt from a forthcoming book and a New York Times article that reported Trump “privately…talked about fortifying a border wall with a water-filled trench, stocked with snakes or alligators,” and that aides even sought cost estimates for such a moat [1] [5]. Rolling Stone, The Independent, The Boston Globe and others picked up the Times material and described the proposal in similar terms [3] [6] [5].
2. Trump’s response and how outlets framed it
Trump publicly denied the characterization, tweeting that “the press has gone crazy” and saying he “may be tough on Border Security, but not that tough,” while mocking the reports; Fox News and other outlets covered his denial and quoted his tweet directly [2] [1]. Newsweek noted his Truth Social post repeating that he “wanted a Moat stuffed with alligators and snakes” was framed by critics as a grotesque proposal but that he did not explicitly propose feeding migrant children to animals as some social-media inferences suggested [7].
3. Legal and practical context — why aides’ seeking a cost estimate matters
Several reports emphasize aides “seeking a cost estimate” after the president raised ideas, which journalists presented as evidence that the notion wasn’t pure hyperbole in private discussions and that staff explored practicalities — even if the idea never moved toward implementation [1] [8]. The detail of a cost estimate is what many outlets highlighted to show administration attention beyond casual banter [8] [5].
4. Human-rights and civil-liberties reaction
Civil-rights organizations and human‑rights advocates framed the reported idea as emblematic of extreme cruelty in immigration policy. The ACLU’s public discussion of Trump-era immigration actions cites the snakes/alligators anecdote as an example of proposals some officials refused to implement — noting uncertainty whether such pronouncements were serious policy proposals or saber-rattling [4]. Amnesty International and similar groups reacted strongly in 2019 when the story first surfaced [6].
5. Subsequent uses and rhetoric: the alligator motif persists
Media and political commentary have repeatedly referenced the snakes/alligators anecdote to illustrate both critics’ claims about Trump’s temperament on immigration and defenders’ arguments that reports were exaggerated. Later events — including reporting in 2025 about Trump invoking alligators in comments on a Florida detention facility — show the same motif reappearing in coverage and critique of policy rhetoric [9] [10].
6. Limits of the record: what available sources do not say
Available sources do not provide a government policy document or a formal White House plan to build a moat with snakes/alligators, nor do they show such a moat was ever constructed or formally proposed in agency rulemaking (not found in current reporting). The primary public evidence rests on New York Times reporting excerpted from a book and contemporaneous press accounts that describe private remarks and aides seeking estimates [1] [5].
7. Competing interpretations and stakes
Supporters of the president emphasized his public denial and called the story press hyperbole; critics framed the anecdote as indicative of a cruel approach to migration and as corroborated by aides’ follow‑up inquiries [2] [3]. The ACLU and other groups used the report to warn of broader, harsher immigration plans, while some news outlets treated the story as one illustrative episode among many in coverage of the administration’s immigration agenda [4] [11].
8. Bottom line for readers
Multiple reputable outlets trace the “moat with snakes or alligators” anecdote to New York Times reporting that cites private comments and staff follow‑up; Trump denied the reports and said they were exaggerated [1] [2]. There is broad media agreement that the remark was reported, disagreement about its seriousness, and no published official policy document creating such a moat in available reporting (p1_s8; [4]; not found in current reporting).