President Trump will tout his administration’s hardline immigration policies when he addresses a joint session of Congress for the first time as the 47th president, The Post has learned.
Trump, 78, blasted out an all-caps promo for his remarks on Truth Social, telling his followers: “TOMORROW NIGHT WILL BE BIG. I WILL TELL IT LIKE IT IS!”
The prime-time address will be an “America First victory lap,” one person close to the White House told The Post Monday afternoon, adding that its content would be “heavy” on the gains made against illegal migration across the southern border.
Last month, The Post reported that the number of illegal migrant encounters at the Mexico frontier had dropped to levels not seen in decades following Trump’s swearing-in Jan. 20.
As of mid-February, an average of 359 illegal migrants per day had been caught across the entire southern border — down more than 90% from February 2024 and putting the US on track to have the lowest number of monthly border crossings in at least 25 years.
Tuesday’s speech, while similar in appearance, is not an official State of the Union address since Trump has not been in office for at least a year.
Meanwhile, some Democrats are grappling with whether to attend the president’s remarks in the House chamber at all.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) has vowed to skip the speech completely, predicting on CNN Monday that Trump will both celebrate the work of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and speak positively about Russia, prospects which the Democrat described as “farce.”
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) has also said he will be not attending and will instead be hosting a Facebook Live town hall.
Democratic lawmakers who will attend received guidance from leadership to “bring a guest who has been harmed by the Trump administration’s early actions or will be hurt by the House Republican budget,” Politico reported Monday.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who famously tore up a copy of Trump’s 2020 State of the Union speech, advised Democrats not to visibly object to the president’s statements Tuesday night.
“Any demonstration of disagreement, whether it’s visual or whatever, just let him stew in his own juice,” Pelosi told the Washington Post in an interview published last week. “Don’t be any grist for the mill [for Republicans] to say, ‘This was inappropriate.’”
The California lawmaker also urged Democrats to focus on making gains in the 2026 midterms, rather than challenging Trump directly.
Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) will give the Democrat response to Trump’s speech, a sign the party is refocusing on the Midwest after Californian Kamala Harris lost to Trump in November.
Slotkin, who kept her Senate seat in Democratic hands despite Trump winning Michigan, has promised to “speak directly to the American people.”
“The public expects leaders to level with them on what’s actually happening in our country,” she previewed. “From our economic security to our national security, we’ve got to chart a way forward that actually improves people’s lives in the country we all love, and I’m looking forward to laying that out.”
