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

Democratic Reps. Sydney Kamlager-Dove and Maxwell Frost released statements after they left the speech.

"Through walking out, my message to Donald Trump is simple: stop the lies, stop the cheating, and stop the stealing -- enough is enough. The American people deserve better," Kamlager-Dove said.

"Donald Trump is many things -- a liar, a grifter, a wanna-be-dictator -- but no matter how hard he tries and how many Republicans in Congress bend the knee and kiss the ring: he will never be king," Frost said.

-ABC News' John Parkinson

Trump once again bashed former President Joe Biden for his immigration policy, arguing that a new president was needed to resolve the issue of illegal border crossings.

“Friends in the Democrat Party kept saying we needed new legislation, we must have legislation to secure the border,” Trump said, before arguing that "turns out, all we really needed" was a new president.

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