From PBS NewsHour.
President Donald Trump said the U.S. has the “strongest and most secure border” in American history during his State of the Union address Tuesday.
Trump blamed his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, for border policies that allowed millions of undocumented people to cross the U.S.-Mexico border “unvetted and unchecked.”
“In the past nine months, zero illegal aliens have been admitted to the United States, but we will always allow people to come in legally,” the president said.
The U.S. Border Patrol documented far fewer encounters with migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border in 2025, the first year of Trump’s second term, amounting to their lowest level in decades.
Based on available information from the Department of Homeland Security, Border Patrol said it has released zero immigrants in the U.S. for eight straight months, instead deporting or detaining them.
Trump’s address comes after 13 months of break-neck deregulation, a record number of executive actions, mass layoffs, aggressive immigration tactics and more.
Ahead of the speech, Trump was expected to outline his administration’s accomplishments, make his case for keeping his party in power this November and celebrate the 250th anniversary of America’s independence.
At the same time, a number of pain points have threatened to overshadow Trump’s positive messages during his primetime speech.
On Friday, the Supreme Court delivered a major setback to Trump’s agenda when it struck down his sweeping tariffs. A partial government shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, brought on by Democratic opposition to Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement, seems to have no end in sight. And questions about the Jeffrey Epstein investigation continue to dog his administration.
According to the latest PBS News/NPR/ Marist poll, 60% of Americans say the country is worse off compared to a year ago, while 40% believe the country is in better shape.
Watch PBS News for daily, breaking and live news, plus special coverage. We are home to PBS News Hour, ranked the most credible and objective TV news show.
Sign up for Here’s The Deal with Lisa Desjardins: https://to.pbs.org/41q6E8i
Subscribe for exclusive content in our newsletters: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/subscribe
PBS News podcasts: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/podcasts
Stream your PBS favorites with the PBS app: https://to.pbs.org/2Jb8twG
Find more from PBS News at https://www.pbs.org/newshour
Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2HfsCD6
Follow us:
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@pbsnews
X: http://www.twitter.com/newshour
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/newshour
Facebook: http://www.pbs.org/newshour
