President Donald Trump repeatedly returned to the subject of illegal immigration during his Tuesday night address to a joint session of Congress, touting his success at the southern border and taking aim at the policies of the Biden administration.
Here were the top five moments of the night:
DEMOCRATS UNIMPRESSED BY TRUMP’S GESTURE TO FAMILY OF YOUNG GIRL KILLED BY ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS
“They heard my words”
Trump took credit for a sharp drop in encounters at the southern border. In February, there were just 8,326 southern border encounters, down from 189,913 in February 2024. The administration has so far removed more than 55,000 illegal immigrants from the U.S.
“Within hours of taking the oath of office, I declared a national emergency on our southern border, and I deployed the U.S. military and border patrol to repel the invasion of our country. And what a job they’ve done. As a result, illegal border crossings last month were by far the lowest ever recorded ever,” he said.
“They heard my words, and they chose not to come, much easier that way,” he said.
TRUMP HONORS LIVES OF LAKEN RILEY, JOCELYN NUNGARAY WHILE CELEBRATING STRIDES ON SECURING BORDER
Trump renames sanctuary after Jocelyn Nungaray
Trump used the address to announce that a wildlife sanctuary would be renamed in honor of Jocelyn Nungaray, a 12-year-old girl sexually assaulted and murdered at the hands of Venezuelan illegal migrants last year.
“One thing I have learned about Jocelyn is that she loved animals so much. She loved nature. Across Galveston Bay, from where Jocelyn lived in Houston, you will find a magnificent National Wildlife Refuge, a pristine, peaceful, 34,000-acre sanctuary for all of God’s creatures on the edge of the Gulf of America,” Trump said.
He then showed an executive order renaming the refuge in honor of Jocelyn, whose mother Alexis was in the audience for the address.
“Alexis, moments ago, I formally renamed that refuge in loving memory of your beautiful daughter, Jocelyn,” he said.
Trump honors ‘beautiful’ Laken Riley
Trump also paid tribute to Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, who was killed by a Venezuelan illegal immigrant last year.
Trump noted that the killer “was arrested while trespassing across Biden’s open southern border.”
“And then set loose into the United States under the heartless policies of that failed administration. It was indeed a failed administration. He had then been arrested and released in a Democrat-run sanctuary city, a disaster, before ending the life of this beautiful young angel. With us this evening are Laken’s beloved mother, Alison, and her sister Lauren,” he said.
Trump declared during his speech that the U.S. “will never, ever forget our beautiful Laken Riley” through legislation he signed into law, the Laken Riley Act.
Trump dings Biden, Dem hopes for border bill
Trump took aim at Democrats who had spent much of 2024 arguing that the solution to the crisis at the southern border was sweeping legislation. He again pointed to the low numbers he is overseeing.
“Since taking office, my administration has launched the most sweeping border and immigration crackdown in American history. And we quickly achieved the lowest numbers of illegal border crossing ever recorded. … The media and our friends in the Democrat Party kept saying we needed new legislation. We must have legislation to secure the border,” he said.
But it turned out that all we really needed was a new president,” he said.
Trump touts gold card, like a ‘green card, but better and more sophisticated’
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Trump used the address to tout his idea for a “gold card” visa, which would allow foreign nationals to buy a path to U.S. citizenship for $5 million.
“We will allow the most successful job-creating people from all over the world to buy a path to U.S. citizenship. It’s like the green card, but better and more sophisticated,” he said.
He contrasted it with the deportation push his administration launched.
“So while we take out the criminals, killers, traffickers and child predators who are allowed to enter our country under the open border policy of these people, the Democrats, the Biden administration, the open-border, insane policies that you’ve allowed to destroy our country, we will now bring in brilliant, hard-working, job creating people. They’re going to pay a lot of money, and we’re going to reduce our debt with that money,” he said.
