Trump defends immigration cuts at State of the Union as approval ratings drop

WASHINGTON – To defend against the increasingly unpopular attacks on immigrants during his State of the Union address, President Trump singled out the victims of crimes fueled by undocumented immigrants.

But as Democrats say, the president’s long speech did not address American citizens, including Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, who were killed by immigrants.

Recent polls show public approval of Trump’s immigration policies have fallen to the lowest level since he returned to the White House. One poll, released on February 17 by Reuters and market research firm Ipsos, showed that 38% of respondents felt Trump was doing a good job on immigration.

Another poll, published last month by Fox News, showed 59% of voters say US Immigration and Customs Enforcement is “too aggressive.”

“As President Trump brags about his immigration enforcement in the State of the Union tonight, I can only think of Renee Nicole Good, Alex Pretti and the dozens of people who have died in ICE custody since Trump took office,” wrote Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (D-Concord) on X.

In the first few minutes of his speech Tuesday night, Trump highlighted “the strongest and most secure border in American history, by far.” He also offered – at least temporarily – a softer tone, adding that “We will always allow people to enter legally, people who will love our country and will work hard to save our country.”

In fact, the administration has restricted immigration. It revoked humanitarian benefits for hundreds of thousands of people, and temporarily suspended all asylum applications filed with the US Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Guests invited by various White House lawmakers to attend Trump’s speech offered concrete views on the impeachment efforts of many administrations.

Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-Iowa) said he would bring the father and brother of Sarah Root, who died in 2016 after a drunk driver, who was in the US illegally, crashed her car. Trump held an event Monday for “angel families,” those who have a relative killed by an immigrant, and signed a proclamation honoring crime victims.

Democrats, on the other hand, have invited immigrants, family members of those detained or deported, and US citizens who have been violently detained by immigration officials.

Rep. Mike Levin (D-San Juan Capistrano), for example, said he is bringing the daughter of a Laguna Niguel couple who were deported last year to Colombia after they were arrested during a routine check with ICE. And Rep. Jesus Garcia (D-Ill.) invited Marimar Martinez, the Chicago woman who was shot five times by Border Patrol Agent Charles Exum.

In X, the Department of Homeland Security fired back at Democrats and immigration officials, saying lawmakers are “once again prioritizing illegal aliens over the safety of American citizens.”

On Tuesday morning, Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) held a press conference on “immigration status,” prepared by Christian pastors, where she proposed her Dignity Act, which would grant permanent legal status to immigrants who meet certain criteria.

“Throughout Scripture, there are two types of leaders: those who persecute religious communities and those who protect them,” he said.

California Sen. Adam Schiff was among the Democrats to boycott Trump’s speech, and cited immigration enforcement as one of the reasons for his absence.

“I’ve never missed the State of the Union in the 25 years I’ve been in Congress, but we’ve never had a president who broke the Constitution, the laws every day in a seemingly innocent way,” Schiff told Meidas Touch outside the Capitol. “We have never had armed agents, poorly trained, harassing our cities, demanding to see people’s documents.”

Trump is repeating claims about immigration that have already been deported, such as his assertion that President Biden’s police are allowing millions of people to pour into the US from prisons and mental institutions.

Trump also highlighted the number he often turns to – Democrats have allowed “11,888 murderers.” That number, a misrepresentation of federal data, refers to immigrants who over the decades (including the Trump administration) have been convicted of murder, often after arriving in the U.S. Those immigrants are listed on ICE’s “no-arrest docket” often because they are currently serving prison terms.

Turning to Minnesota, Trump said the Somalis embezzled $19 billion from American taxpayers and contemptuously called them “Somali criminals.”

Trump went beyond Somalis to disparage many immigrants, saying “there are large parts of the world where bribery, corruption and lawlessness are the norm, not the exception.”

“Importing these customs through unrestricted immigration and open borders brings those problems right here in the USA, and it’s the American people who pay the price,” he said.

Trump also highlighted the case of Dalilah Coleman, 6, from Bakersfield who was left with a traumatic brain injury after a car accident in California in 2024.

He called on Congress to pass Dalilah’s Law, which would prevent states from issuing driver’s licenses to immigrants without legal status. He said, without evidence, “the majority of illegal immigrants do not speak English and cannot read even basic road signs.”

A year after Dalilah’s accident, her family met Partap Singh, the detained Indian immigrant responsible for the accident, at the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center in Bakersfield. Marcus Coleman, his father, told Fox26 News that the focus should not be on Singh’s legal status because similar accidents happen every day.

Also in attendance Tuesday night were the parents of Sarah Beckstrom, a member of the West Virginia National Guard who was shot and killed in Washington, DC by an Afghan immigrant, and Andrew Wolfe, who also survived the shooting.

Trump awarded Wolfe and Beckstrom the Red Heart. He called Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the man charged with the shooting, “a terrorist monster.” Lakanwal entered the US legally from Afghanistan through the Biden administration’s 2021 plan and his asylum application was approved under the Trump administration last April.

Turning his attention to the midterm elections, Trump warned his supporters that if allowed to return to power, Democrats would open the borders to “some of the worst criminals in the world.”

Trump then invited lawmakers to stand up if they agreed with him that “the first job of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.”

Republicans stood up, suggesting one of the longest stands of the night. The Democrats remained seated.

Trump told Democrats they should be ashamed for not standing up.

“You killed the Americans!” Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) shouted from the audience. “You should be ashamed.”