Trump airs familiar grievances, charts MAGA plan in address before bitterly divided Congress

Trump highlighted the tragic killing of nursing student Laken Riley. Her case reignited the national debate over immigration and crime during the 2024 election. The Laken Riley Act, series of initiatives meant to tackle his key goal of curbing illegal immigration, was symbolically the first law Trump signed of his second administration.

Laken Riley's mother and sister are guests of first lady Melania Trump and stood as Trump spoke. Her mother, Allyson Phillips, appeared emotional as the two received applause from Republicans in the chamber.

2:17

Trump highlights Laken Riley case as he pushes his border policiesLaken Riley's mother and sister are guests of Melania Trump and Laken's mother, Allyson Phillips, appeared emotional as the two received applause from Republicans in the chamber.

ABCNews.com

FACT CHECK: This is missing context.

Illegal immigration at the U.S. southern border has dropped since Trump entered office Jan. 20, and it’s likely that Trump’s hard-on-immigration approach has played a role. From former President Joe Biden’s last week in office to Trump’s first week in office, border officials’ daily encounters with immigrants illegally entering the U.S. dropped 60%. There’s been a 94% drop in encounters with Border Patrol agents at the U.S. southern border over a seven-day period in February and the same time last year.

But looking at a small period of time ignores longer-term trends, and there are multiple ways to examine the data. Illegal immigration has been dropping since March 2024, during Biden’s administration.

Immigration experts have told PolitiFact that weather patterns, such as extremely cold or hot conditions, changes in administration and policies or political shifts in people’s home countries can affect whether someone migrates. So it’s uncertain what causes a drop or how long it will last.

— Aaron Sharockman, PolitiFact

Trump called attention to first lady Melania Trump and praised her work protecting children.

Melania Trump was flanked by Haley Ferguson, a recipient of the first lady's Fostering the Future initiative and Ellison Berry, a victim of AI-generated pornography.

1:38

Trump highlights first lady for her work with foster care, ‘Take It Down’ ActMelania Trump was flanked by Haley Ferguson, a recipient of the first lady's Fostering the Future initiative and Ellison Berry, a victim of AI-generated pornography.

ABCNews.com

Berry was present at Melania Trump's roundtable event Monday advocating for the passage of the "Take It Down" Act, which aims to criminalize deepfake and revenge pornography.

"And I'm going to use that bill for myself, too, if you don't mind. There's nobody gets treated worse than I do online. Nobody," Trump said.

Trump has spent most of the last 20 minutes talking about out-of-control government spending, ranging from cuts of foreign aid to repeating falsehoods about Social Security payments to dead people. He went so far as to promise the government will balance the budget — something it hasn't done since the 90s.

Now he's a few paragraphs in to a preview of tax cut legislation. Trump says he will extend his 2017 tax cuts and further cut the rate for wealthy Americans while eliminating the tax on tips. It's worth noting that these goals are not compatible without cuts to government entitlement programs, since cutting taxes also cuts revenues that pay for spending. A budget bill which recently passed the Republican-controlled House would add nearly $3 trillion to the deficit over the next decade.

—G. Elliott Morris, 538