Fact-checkers for Trump’s State of the Union received a mixed verdict on the claims

Fact-checkers presented a mixed verdict on President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address, supporting claims on immigration and crime while arguing with others on voter fraud, Medicaid and foreign policy disputes.

Reviews from PolitiFact, FactCheck.org, The New York Times and others found that Trump’s assertion that “no illegal aliens” were brought into the country was largely accurate even though illegal crossings have continued at a low rate.

Examiners also upheld his claim that the national homicide rate is the lowest in history but labeled his statements about “rampant” voter fraud, Medicaid and the number of wars he ended as misleading.

Fact-checking emphasized that Trump’s speech was a mix of unverifiable points and broad claims that grabbed headlines but could mislead voters, who Trump hopes will keep Republicans in power in Congress as he eyes a tough 2026 midterm election cycle.

Immigration to another country

When Trump said on Tuesday that “illegal immigrants have been brought into the United States,” he was referring to the US Border Patrol arresting or deporting immigrants who try to enter the country illegally or through asylum claims, rather than following Biden’s policy and letting them out.

Fact-checkers have acknowledged the reversal of immigration policies under Trump. They pointed out that illegal border crossing is still going on, but at a much slower pace.

“Encounters with people trying to cross the US southern border illegally have dropped dramatically during Trump’s second term,” PolitiFact noted, adding that authorities encountered about 10,000 migrants in January compared to more than 60,000 in January 2025.

Trump’s comments about illegal immigrants committing crimes were highly contested, fact-checkers found, noting that Department of Homeland Security statistics did not show that the Biden administration allowed nearly 12,000 murderers to enter the country illegally, as Trump claimed during his speech.

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NPR noted that Trump has called Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska an immigrant, despite a lack of evidence to the contrary. The newspaper noted that local media reported that the suspect, Decarlos Dejuan Brown Jr., was born in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Brown was seen on surveillance footage brutally stabbing Zarutska, 23, as she rode the subway home from work in August 2025. Her killing has become a national example of local prosecutors’ lax policies on repeat offenders.

When Trump widely claimed that the nation’s homicide rate was the lowest it had been in 125 years, fact-checkers found it to be true.

‘Eight Wars’

Many observers argue that Trump has ended “eight wars.”

Trump won widespread praise for brokering a deal between Israel and Hamas that led to the return of Israeli hostages, and the president was praised for brokering a deal between Israel and Iran after a devastating airstrike on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

President Donald Trump warned during his State of the Union address about Iran’s nuclear program. (Kenny Holston/The New York Times via AP)

The New York Times said eight wars, however, was an “exaggeration,” and FactCheck.org called the figure “powerful.”

Fact-checkers point to Trump’s controversial involvement in ending the conflict between India and Pakistan. Trump also “cited disagreements in other countries that were not wars,” FactCheck.org said.

Trump played a role in resolving the border dispute between Cambodia and Thailand, and brokered peace agreements between Armenia and Azerbaijan and Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Trump has also mentioned wars between Serbia and Kosovo, and Egypt and Ethiopia, but some say those involve bitter disagreements and do not mean war.

Voter fraud

A high point for fact-checkers was Trump’s assertion that “fraud is rampant” in federal elections.

“Trump has made an incendiary series of false claims about the US election,” writes CNN reporter Daniel Dale.

Trump did this while urging Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, which would require physical proof of citizenship for anyone who registers to vote in federal elections.

It is illegal for non-citizens to vote, and voters must declare under penalty of perjury that they are US citizens as part of the registration process. Public officials are required by federal law to practice voter registration to ensure that registered voters are valid.

Federal and state prosecutions of non-citizen voting have been extremely rare, but Trump and his base have argued that non-citizen voting is widespread and invisible.

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Empty envelopes for open mail-in ballots for the presidential election are placed on a table at King County Elections in Renton, Washington on March 10, 2020. (Jason Redmond/AFP via Getty Images)

NPR cited the observations of election expert David Becker, who runs the nonprofit Center for Election Innovation and Research.

“Even the states that look everywhere to try to increase the number of non-citizens … when they look, they find an incredibly, shockingly low number,” Becker said.

The New York Times said the number of non-citizen voters is “very small,” noting a Trump DHS study that found up to 0.2% of registered voters may not be citizens.

Activities

Fact-checkers call Trump’s claim that more Americans are working than ever true, but say the president’s claim about job growth is misleading.

Job growth remained steady under Trump while the population was at its largest, meaning labor force participation did not keep pace with the population, notes the New York Times.

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Protecting Medicaid

Fact-checkers dismissed Trump’s claim that he would “always” protect Medicaid, noting that the “big, beautiful bill,” his signature tax and spending plan enacted in July 2025, cut nearly $1 trillion from the program by changing its eligibility requirements.

“With fewer people on Medicaid, the program is less expensive,” notes FactCheck.org.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.

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