Trump airs familiar grievances, charts MAGA plan in address before bitterly divided Congress
Sen. Elissa Slotkin delivered the Democratic response to Trump's address.
President Donald Trump addressed a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night, six weeks into his historic return to the White House.
During the speech, Trump said "America is back" and defended the tariffs on key U.S. trading partners. He touched on immigration and the mineral deal with Ukraine, but neglected to go into detail on his economic plan. The speech was also met with protests and disruptions from Democrats.
Key headlines:
- Slotkin encourages concerned Americans not to despair and organize
- Slotkin: Reagan 'rolling in his grave' over Trump's foreign policy approach
- Slotkin slams DOGE, Trump over mass firings of federal workers
- Slotkin criticizes Musk's power in government
- Slotkin starts with economy, says Trump talked a 'big game'
It’s unclear how many migrants Trump has deported
One of Trump’s chief campaign promises was to deport millions of undocumented immigrants, starting with convicted criminals. But his administration has released only incomplete data on how successful it has been at that.
According to data posted on X, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 8,276 people between Jan. 22 and Jan. 31. It also issued 6,577 "detainers lodged" for people arrested by other law-enforcement agencies whom ICE has reason to believe are eligible for deportation. That's an average of 828 arrests and 658 detainers lodged per day.
That's a big increase from the last year of published statistics under former President Joe Biden's administration. Between Oct. 1, 2023, and Sept. 30, 2024, ICE reported 113,431 arrests, or an average of 310 per day. So Trump is certainly cracking down on immigration more than his predecessor did.
However, it's not nearly the pace the Trump administration needs to hit if it wants to achieve its stated goal of deporting every undocumented immigrant. The Pew Research Center estimated there were 11.0 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. in 2022. If ICE were to arrest 828 people and lodge 658 detainers per day every day going forward, it would take over 20 years to arrest or lodge a detainer against 11.0 million people.
And there’s another problem: We don’t have data beyond that one week. ICE hasn’t shared how many people it arrested and lodged detainers against since Jan. 31; it’s possible that it has significantly increased or decreased the pace since then. ICE also hasn’t released data on what share of those arrested have been criminals. Despite the administration’s anecdotal claims, there have been numerous news reports of ICE arresting immigrants who haven’t done anything wrong other than being in the country illegally.
—Nathaniel Rakich, 538
Why Democratic women are wearing pink tonight
Democratic Women's Caucus Chair Teresa Leger Fernández told ABC News the caucus called on women to wear pink because it is the "color of power and protest."
Spotted in pink in the chamber is Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the first woman to serve as speaker of the House.
Members of Congress begin filling the chamber
Members of Congress are filling up the chamber ahead of tonight’s address. A handful of members in the Congressional Black Caucus are wearing black.
At one point, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene pulled out a red MAGA hat.
– ABC News’ Lauren Peller
Musk rides motorcade
Elon Musk was seen wearing a suit and arrived at the Capitol in the presidential motorcade.
He was not in the limo with Trump and the first lady.