A look at false and misleading claims made by Trump during his address to Congress
A look at false and misleading claims made by Trump during his address to Congress
(Web Desk) - President Donald Trump ‘s Tuesday night address to a joint session of Congress highlighted several of the initiatives he’s started in his first six weeks in office, but many of his comments included false and misleading information.
Here’s a look at the facts.
He overstated the numbers on his immigration crackdown
TRUMP: “Illegal border crossings last month were by far the lowest ever recorded. Ever.”
THE FACTS: Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Saturday that Border Patrol apprehended 8,326 people on the U.S.-Mexico border last month. But U.S. government data show that Border Patrol routinely averaged below that number in the 1960s.
While February marked the lowest arrest total in decades, Border Patrol averaged less than February 2025 for the first seven years of 1960s. The government website does not track U.S.-Mexico border totals before 1960. Border Patrol’s monthly average was 1,752 arrests in 1961.
He inflated the number of people who entered the U.S. illegally under President Joe Biden
TRUMP: “Over the past four years, 21 million people poured into the United States. Many of them were murderers, human traffickers, gang members.”
THE FACTS: That figure, which Trump cites regularly, is highly inflated. U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported more than 10.8 million arrests for illegal crossings from Mexico from January 2021 through December 2024.
He overstated hotel costs for noncitizens in New York
TRUMP: Citing alleged examples of what he described as “appalling waste” in the federal government, referenced ”$59 million for illegal alien hotel rooms in New York City.”
THE FACTS: Trump appeared to be referencing a payment of $58.6 million — one of two the city received last month. The payment was a federal reimbursement under the Shelter and Services Program, which was created to support local governments and non-government organizations that provide support to noncitizens released by immigration authorities.
Liz Garcia, a city spokesperson, said at the time that these reimbursements included $19 million in claims for hotel costs. The two payments totaled over $80.5 million for services delivered between November 2023 and October 2024.
TRUMP: “Tariffs are about making America rich again and making America great again. And it’s happening. And it will happen rather quickly. There’ll be a little disturbance, but we’re OK with that. It won’t be much.”
THE FACTS: Trump is banking on the idea that taxing imports is the road to riches for the United States. Most economists say Trump’s tariffs would hurt the country, as they’re tax increases that could raise the costs of goods in ways that could also harm economic growth. Trump suggests that the impact on inflation would be minimal.
When the Yale University Budget Lab looked at the tariffs that Trump imposed Tuesday on Canada, Mexico and China, it found that inflation would increase a full percentage point, growth would fall by half a percentage point and the average household would lose about $1,600 in disposable income.
TRUMP: “Believe it or not, government databases list 4.7 million Social Security members from people aged 100 to 109 years old. It lists 3.6 million people from ages 110 to 119. ... 3.47 million people from ages 120 to 129. 3.9 million people from ages 130 to 139. 3.5 million people from ages 140 to 149. And money is being paid to many of them, and we are searching right now.”
THE FACTS: The databases may list those people, but that does not mean they are getting paid benefits.
Trump did not inherit an ‘economic catastrophe’
TRUMP: “Among my very highest priorities is to rescue our economy and get dramatic and immediate relief to working families. As you know, we inherited from the last administration an economic catastrophe and an inflation nightmare.”
THE FACTS: Inflation peaked at 9.1% in 2022 under President Joe Biden, but Trump did not inherit a disastrous economy by any measure. The unemployment rate ticked down to a low 4% in January, the month he took office, while the economy expanded a healthy 2.8% in 2024. Inflation-adjusted incomes have grown steadily since mid-2023. And inflation, while showing signs of stickiness in recent months and still elevated at 3% in January, is down from its 2022 peak.
