WASHINGTON (States Newsroom) — President Donald Trump touted his administration’s accomplishments after just 43 days in office and the need for billions in federal funds to enact his campaign promise of mass deportations during his first address to a joint session of Congress since returning to the White House.
“They are now strongly embedded in our country, but we are getting them out and getting them out fast,” Trump said of immigrants without legal status, especially those who were given authorization to enter the United States under the Biden administration.
The nearly two-hour speech, however, was interrupted multiple times by Democrats who protested and booed, heckling the president about potential cuts to Medicaid that could come as part of the budget reconciliation process.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, ordered the sergeant at arms to remove 11-term Texas U.S. Rep. Al Green after Green refused to stop shouting at Trump.
“You have no mandate to cut Medicaid,” Green, 77, yelled, waving his cane in the air, after Trump claimed he had been elected with a mandate. Green told reporters afterward: “It’s worth it to let people know that there are some people who are going to stand up” to Trump.
DEI, transgender athletes
Much like in his campaign speeches, the president railed against diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and criticized transgender athletes in women’s sports. He vowed to continue getting rid of “fraud and waste” in the federal government.
The president also defended his 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico and additional 10% tariffs on China, levied beginning Tuesday.
“Tariffs are not just about protecting American jobs, they’re about protecting the soul of our country,” Trump said. “Tariffs are about making America rich again and making America great again. And it’s happening, and it will happen rather quickly. There will be a little disturbance, but we’re okay with that.”
Both the immigration crackdown and a litany of Trump’s actions so far to cut costs, freeze hiring and reduce regulations occupied much of the speech. “I return to this chamber tonight to report that America’s momentum is back. Our spirit is back, our pride is back, our confidence is back, and the American Dream is surging bigger and better than ever before,” said Trump.
Ahead of the address, some Democrats said they would boycott the event, including Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon, Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Brian Schatz of Hawaii.
Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Kweisi Mfume of Maryland and Gerry Connolly of Virginia also refused to participate.
Some Democrats who did attend invited federal workers who were fired as part of the U.S. DOGE Service’s efforts to curtail the federal workforce by eliminating probationary workers — meaning they were either recently hired or recently promoted, making them probationary.
Billionaire Elon Musk, who is a special government employee spearheading DOGE, was seated with other White House guests above the gallery in the House chamber, and was called out by Trump for his success.
Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin gave Democrats’ response to Trump’s joint address to Congress.
Immigration theme
Trump made immigration a central theme of his speech and in the guests he invited to the address.
One of the guests, Alexis Nungaray, lost her 12-year-old daughter, Jocelyn, who was killed by two immigrants in the country without proper legal authorization. Trump held up an executive order he had signed to rename the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge in Texas after Jocelyn Nungaray.
“One thing I have learned about Jocelyn is that she loved animals so much, she loved nature,” Trump said. “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. Alexis, moments ago, I formally renamed that refuge in loving memory of your beautiful daughter, Jocelyn.”
The president also invited as guests the family of a Georgia nursing student whose murder prompted the passage of the first bill signed into law during his second term — a mandatory immigrant detention bill known as the Laken Riley Act.
Trump addressed Laken Riley’s mother, Allyson Phillips, and her sister, Lauren Phillips.
“Last year I told Laken’s grieving parents that we would ensure their daughter would not have died in vain,” Trump said. “That’s why the very first bill I signed into law as your 47th president mandates the detention of all dangerous criminal aliens who threaten public safety.”
He again vowed his administration would continue to ramp up deportations.
In order to enact those deportations of millions of people, he directed the GOP-controlled Congress to move quickly to appropriate the billions needed for deportation proceedings and detention space.
The American Immigration Council, a left-leaning immigration think tank, estimated that the removal of 1 million people without legal authorization per year would cost $88 billion. The agency that handles removals and deportations, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, had a fiscal year 2024 budget of roughly $9 billion.
ICE last week announced a 15-year contract worth $1 billion with a private prison to detain immigrants in New Jersey.
Trump also praised how the number of encounters at the southern border has dropped — a steady trend since October, when former President Joe Biden was still in office, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data.
Despite relatively low encounters at the southern border, Trump has sent several rounds of active-duty military to aid immigration officials at the U.S.-Mexico border as recently as last weekend.
There are roughly 9,200 troops stationed at the U.S.-Mexico border, which stems from one of the flurry of executive orders Trump signed on his first day in office that declared a national emergency at the southern border.
Action on budget
Trump encouraged Republicans in Congress to quickly pass legislation that would extend the 2017 tax cuts and bolster spending on border security.
“And the next phase of our plan to deliver the greatest economy in history is for this Congress to pass tax cuts for everybody,” Trump said.
The House and Senate must vote to adopt a budget resolution in order to move through the reconciliation process, but so far the two chambers are at odds over whether to move all of their policy goals in one package or split it up into two bills.
The House approved a budget resolution in late February that would set up Congress to approve one package later this year, though the Senate has yet to take it up and is likely to make substantial changes to the reconciliation instructions.
The Senate’s budget resolution, which it approved in mid-February, proposes a two-bill approach. Under that plan, Congress would approve a bill in the weeks ahead to bolster spending on defense and border security by a few hundred billion dollars and rewrite energy policy. Then, lawmakers would extend the 2017 GOP tax law later this year in a separate bill.
Trump said during his speech that he had sent “Congress a detailed funding request laying out exactly how we will eliminate these threats to protect our homeland and complete the largest deportation operation in American history.”
“Americans expect Congress to send me this funding without delay so I can sign it into law,” Trump said.
Turbulence in the chamber
Before and during the president’s address, Democrats protested through signs, interruptions and abruptly leaving in the middle of the joint session.
In the chamber, Democrats held signs that read: “Protect Veterans,” “Save Medicaid,” and “Musk Steals.”
As the president walked into the chamber, New Mexico’s Democratic Rep. Melanie Stansbury held a sign that read, “This is not normal.” The sign was quickly snatched and tossed in the air by GOP Rep. Lance Gooden of Texas.
Michigan’s Rashida Tlaib had a whiteboard that she wrote on throughout the night. “No King. Cut Elon, not Social Security,” she wrote.
Halfway through Trump’s address, a handful of Democrats left, removing their jackets to reveal black t-shirts with the word “Resist” on the backs as they exited the chamber.
It was a stark difference from Trump’s 2020 last address to Congress of his first term when the most explosive move from Democrats came from then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who ripped up Trump’s speech after he finished his remarks.
Tariff talk
Trump touted his recently placed tariffs, and noted other countries that have tariffs on the U.S. such as India and South Korea. The president said that starting April 2, he would place reciprocal tariffs on any countries that place tariffs on the U.S. in response to his trade war.
“Whatever they tariff us, other countries, we will tariff them,” Trump said.
Since Monday’s announcement that the tariffs would go ahead, stocks have tumbled.
Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a Monday statement that his country would respond with 25% tariffs “against $155 billion of American goods – starting with tariffs on $30 billion worth of goods immediately, and tariffs on the remaining $125 billion on American products in 21 days’ time.”
“Our tariffs will remain in place until the U.S. trade action is withdrawn, and should U.S. tariffs not cease, we are in active and ongoing discussions with provinces and territories to pursue several non-tariff measures,” Trudeau said.
Trump defended tariffs as “a new trade policy will also be great for the American farmer,” though he added that farmers may need to “bear with” him.
“The tariffs will go on agricultural products coming into America and our farmers, starting on April 2, it may be a little bit of an adjustment period,” Trump said. “We had that before, when I made the deal with China.”
