THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you very much. Thank you very much. It’s a great honor. Thank you very much.
Speaker Johnson, Vice President Vance, the first lady of the United States — (applause) — members of the United States Congress, thank you very much.
And to my fellow citizens, America is back. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: USA! USA! USA!
THE PRESIDENT: Six weeks ago, I stood beneath the dome of this Capitol and proclaimed the dawn of the golden age of America. From that moment on, it has been nothing but swift and unrelenting action to usher in the greatest and most successful era in the history of our country.
We have accomplished more in 43 days than most administrations accomplished in four years or eight years, and we are just getting started. (Applause.) Thank you.
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. (Applause.) The American dream is unstoppable, and our country is on the verge of a comeback, the likes of which the world has never witnessed and perhaps will never witness again. There’s never been anything like it. (Applause.)
The presidential election of November 5th was a mandate like has not been seen in many decades. We won all seven swing states, giving us an electoral college victory of 312 votes. (Applause.) We won the popular vote —
REPRESENTATIVE GREEN: (Inaudible.)
THE PRESIDENT: — by big numbers and won counties in our country —
AUDIENCE: Booo —
AUDIENCE: USA! USA! USA!
REPRESENTATIVE GREEN: You are — you have no right to cut Medicaid.
AUDIENCE: USA! USA! USA!
THE PRESIDENT: — and won counties in our country 2,700 to 525 on a map that reads almost completely red for Republican. (Applause.)
Now, for the first time in modern history, more Americans believe that our country is headed in the right direction than the wrong direction. In fact, it’s an astonishing record: 27-point swing, the most ever. (Applause.)
Likewise, small-business optimism saw its single largest one-month gain ever recorded.
SPEAKER JOHNSON: Mr. President —
THE PRESIDENT: A 41-point jump.
(Speaker Johnson strikes the gavel.)
SPEAKER JOHNSON: Members are directed to uphold and maintain decorum in the House and to cease any further disruptions. That’s your warning.
REPRESENTATIVE GREEN: He has no mandate to cut Medicaid.
SPEAKER JOHNSON: Members are engaging in willful and continuing breach of decorum, and the chair is prepared to direct the sergeant at arms to restore order to the joint session. (Applause.)
Mr. Green, take your seat. Take your seat, sir.
REPRESENTATIVE GREEN: He has no mandate to cut Medicaid.
SPEAKER JOHNSON: Take your seat.
(Cross-talk.)
Finding that members continue to engage in willful and concerted disruption of proper decorum, the chair now directs the sergeant at arms to restore order. (Applause.) Remove this gentleman from the chamber. (Applause.)
REPRESENTATIVE GREEN: Shame on all of you.
(Members of the audience sing “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye.”)
(Cross-talk.)
You have no mandate.
SPEAKER JOHNSON: Members are directed to uphold and maintain decorum in the House.
Mr. President, you can continue.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you.
Over the past six weeks, I have signed nearly 100 executive orders and taken more than 400 executive actions — a record — to restore common sense, safety, optimism, and wealth all across our wonderful land. The people elected me to do the job, and I’m doing it. (Applause.)
In fact, it has been stated by many that the first month of our presidency — it’s our presidency — (applause) — is the most successful in the history of our nation by many. (Applause.) And what makes it even more impressive is that — do you know who number two is? George Washington. How about that? (Laughter and applause.) How about that? I don’t know about that list, but we’ll take it.
Within hours of taking the oath of office, I declared a national emergency on our southern border — (applause) — and I deployed the U.S. military and Border Patrol to repel the invasion of our country. And what a job they’ve done.
As a result, illegal border crossings last month were, by far, the lowest ever recorded. Ever. (Applause.) They heard my words, and they chose not to come. Much easier that way.
In comparison, under Joe Biden, the worst president in American history — (applause) — there were hundreds of thousands of illegal crossings a month, and virtually all of them, including murderers, drug dealers, gang members, and people from mental institutions and insane asylums, were released into our country. Who would want to do that?
This is my fifth such speech to Congress, and, once again, I look at the Democrats in front of me, and I realize there is absolutely nothing I can say to make them happy or to make them stand or smile or applaud. Nothing I can do. I could find a cure to the most devastating disease — a disease that would wipe out entire nations, or announce the answers to the greatest economy in history or the stoppage of crime to the lowest levels ever recorded, and these people sitting right here will not clap, will not stand, and certainly will not cheer for these astronomical achievements. They won’t do it no matter what.
Five times I’ve been up here. It’s very sad, and it just shouldn’t be this way. (Applause.)
So, Democrats sitting before me, for just this one night, why not join us in celebrating so many incredible wins for America? For the good of our nation, let’s work together and let’s truly make America great again. (Applause.)
Every day, my administration is fighting to deliver the change America needs, to bring a future that America deserves, and we’re doing it. This is a time for big dreams and bold action.
Upon taking office, I imposed an immediate freeze on all federal hiring, a freeze on all new federal regulations, and a freeze on all foreign aid. (Applause.) I terminated the ridiculous Green New Scam. I withdrew from the unfair Paris Climate Accord, which was costing us trillions of dollars that other countries were not paying. (Applause.) I withdrew from the corrupt World Health Organization. (Applause.) And I also withdrew from the anti-American U.N. Human Rights Council. (Applause.)
We ended all of Biden’s environmental restrictions that were making our country far less safe and totally unaffordable. And importantly, we ended the last administration’s insane electric vehicle mandate, saving our autoworkers and companies from economic destruction. (Applause.)
To unshackle our economy, I have directed that for every 1 new regulation, 10 old regulations must be eliminated, just like I did in my very successful first term. (Applause.) And in that first term, we set records on ending unnecessary rules and regulations like no other president had done before.
We ordered all federal workers to return to the office. They will either show up for work in person or be removed from their job. (Applause.)
And we have ended weaponized government, where, as an example, a sitting president is allowed to viciously prosecute his political opponent, like me. How did that work out? (Laughter.) Not too good. (Applause.) Not too good.
And I have stopped all government censorship and brought back free speech in America. It’s back. (Applause.)
And two days ago, I signed an order making English the official language of the United States of America. (Applause.)
I renamed the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. (Applause.)
And, likewise, I renamed — for a great president, William McKinley — Mount McKinley again. (Applause.) Beautiful Alaska. We love Alaska.
We’ve ended the tyranny of so-called diversity, equity, and inclusion policies all across the entire federal government and, indeed, the private sector and our military. (Applause.) And our country will be woke no longer. (Applause.)
We believe that whether you are a doctor, an accountant, a lawyer, or an air traffic controller, you should be hired and promoted based on skill and competence, not race or gender. Very important. (Applause.) You should be hired based on merit. And the Supreme Court, in a brave and very powerful decision, has allowed us to do so.
Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. (Applause.)
We have removed the poison of critical race theory from our public schools. And I signed an order making it the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders: male and female. (Applause.)
I also signed an executive order to ban men from playing in women’s sports. (Applause.)
Three years ago, Payton McNabb was an all-star high school athlete — one of the best — preparing for a future in college sports. But when her girls’ volleyball match was invaded by a male, he smashed the ball so hard in Payton’s face, causing traumatic brain injury, partially paralyzing her right side, and ending her athletic career. It was a shot like she’s never seen before. She’s never seen anything like it.
Payton is here tonight in the gallery. And, Payton, from now on, schools will kick the men off the girls’ team or they will lose all federal funding. (Applause.)
And if you really want to see numbers, just take a look at what happened in the woman’s boxing, weightlifting, track and field, swimming, or cycling, where a male recently finished a long-distance race five hours and 14 minutes ahead of a woman for a new record by five hours. Broke the record by five hours.
It’s demeaning for women, and it’s very bad for our country. We’re not going to put up with it any longer. (Applause.)
What I have just described is only a small fraction of the commonsense revolution that is now, because of us, sweeping the entire world. Common sense has become a common theme, and we will never go back. Never. Never going to let that happen. (Applause.)
Among my very highest priorities is to rescue our economy and get dramatic and immediate relief to working families. As you know, we inherited from the last administration an economic catastrophe and an inflation nightmare. Their policies drove up energy prices, pushed up grocery costs, and drove the necessities of life out of reach for millions and millions of Americans. They’ve never had anything like it.
We suffered the worst inflation in 48 years but perhaps even in the history of our country. They’re not sure. As president, I’m fighting every day to reverse this damage and make America affordable again. (Applause.)
Joe Biden especially let the price of eggs get out of control.
AUDIENCE: Booo —
THE PRESIDENT: The egg price is out of control, and we’re working hard to get it back down.
Secretary, do a good job on that. You inherited a total mess from the previous administration. Do a good job. (Applause.)
A major focus of our fight to defeat inflation is rapidly reducing the cost of energy. The previous administration cut the number of new oil and gas leases by 95 percent, slowed pipeline construction to a halt, and closed more than 100 power plants. We are opening up many of those power plants right now. (Applause.)
And, frankly, we have never seen anything like it. That’s why, on my first day in office, I declared a national energy emergency. (Applause.) As you’ve heard me say many times, we have more liquid gold under our feet than any nation on Earth and by far. And now I’ve fully authorized the most talented team ever assembled to go and get it. It’s called drill, baby, drill. (Applause.)
My administration is also working on a gigantic natural gas pipeline in Alaska — among the largest in the world — where Japan, South Korea, and other nations want to be our partner with investments of trillions of dollars each. There’s never been anything like that one. It will be truly spectacular. It’s all set to go. The permitting is gotten.
And later this week, I will also take historic action to dramatically expand production of critical minerals and rare earths here in the USA. (Applause.)
To further combat inflation, we will not only be reducing the cost of energy, but we’ll be ending the flagrant waste of taxpayer dollars. (Applause.) And to that end, I have created the brand-new Department of Government Efficiency – DOGE. (Applause.) Perhaps you’ve heard of it — perhaps — which is headed by Elon Musk, who is in the gallery tonight. (Applause.)
Thank you, Elon. He’s working very hard. He didn’t need this. (Laughs.) He didn’t need this. Thank you very much. We appreciate it. Everybody here, even this side, appreciates it, I believe. (Applause.) They just don’t want to admit that.
Just listen to some of the appalling waste we have already identified.
$22 billion from HHS to provide free housing and cars for illegal aliens.
$45 million for diversity, equity, and inclusion scholarships in Burma.
$40 million to improve the social and economic inclusion of sedentary migrants. Nobody knows what that is. (Laughter.)
$8 million to promote LGBTQI+ in the African nation of Lesotho, which nobody has ever heard of. (Laughter.)
$60 million for Indigenous peoples and Afro-Colombian empowerment in Central America. $60 million.
$8 million for making mice transgender. (Laughter.) This is real.
$32 million for a left-wing propaganda operation in Moldova.
$10 million for male circumcision in Mozambique.
$20 million for the Arab “Sesame Street” in the Middle East. It’s a program. $20 million for a program.
$1.9 billion to recently created decarbonization of homes committee, headed up — and we know she’s involved — just at the last moment, the money was passed over — by a woman named Stacey Abrams. Have you ever heard of her?
AUDIENCE: Booo —
THE PRESIDENT: A $3.5 million consulting contract for lavish fish monitoring.
$1.5 million for voter confidence in Liberia.
$14 million for social cohesion in Mali.
$59 million for illegal alien hotel rooms in New York City.
AUDIENCE: Booo —
THE PRESIDENT: He’s a real estate developer. He’s done very well.
$250,000 to increase vegan local climate action innovation in Zambia.
$42 million for social and behavior change in Uganda.
$14 million for improving public procurement in Serbia.
$47 million for improving learning outcomes in Asia. Asia is doing very well with learning. (Laughter.) Don’t know what we’re doing. We should use it ourselves.
And $101 million for DEI contracts at the Department of Education, the most ever paid. Nothing even like it.
Under the Trump administration, all of these scams — and there are far worse, but I didn’t think it was appropriate to talk about them. They’re so bad. Many more have been found out and exposed and swiftly terminated by a group of very intelligent, mostly young people, headed up by Elon. And we appreciate it. We’ve found hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud. (Applause.)
And we’ve taken back the money and reduced our debt to fight inflation and other things. Taken back a lot of that money. We got it just in time.
AUDIENCE MEMBERS: (Inaudible.)
THE PRESIDENT: This is just the beginning. The Government Accountability Office, a federal government office, has estimated annual fraud of over $500 billion in our nation, and we are working very hard to stop it. We’re going to.
We’re also identifying shocking levels of incompetence and probable fraud in the Social Security program for our seniors and that our seniors and people that we love rely on. Believe it or not, government databases list 4.7 million Social Security members from people aged 100 to 109 years old.
THE PRESIDENT: It lists 3.6 million people from ages 110 to 119. I don’t know any of them. I know some people that are rather elderly, but not quite that elderly. (Laughter.)
3.47 million people from ages 120 to 129.
3.9 million people from ages 130 to 139.
3.5 million people from ages 140 to 149.
And money is being paid to many of them, and we’re searching right now.
In fact, Pam, good luck. Good luck. You’re going to find it.
But a lot of money is paid out to people because it just keeps getting paid and paid, and nobody does — and it really hurts Social Security and hurts our country.
1.3 million people from ages 150 to 159. And over 130,000 people, according to the Social Security databases, are age over 160 years old.
We have a healthier country than I thought, Bobby. (Laughter and applause.)
Including, to finish, 1,039 people between the ages of 220 and 229; one person between the age of 240 and 249; and one person is listed at 360 years of age.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Joe Biden! (Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: More than 100 years older than our country.
But we’re going to find out where that money is going, and it’s not going to be pretty.
By slashing all of the fraud, waste, and theft we can find, we will defeat inflation, bring down mortgage rates, lower car payments and grocery prices, protect our seniors, and put more money in the pockets of American families. (Applause.)
And today, interest rates took a beautiful drop — big, beautiful drop. It’s about time.
And in the near future, I want to do what has not been done in 24 years: balance the federal budget. We’re going to balance it. (Applause.)
With that goal in mind, we have developed in great detail what we are calling the gold card, which goes on sale very, very soon.
For $5 million, we will allow the most successful, job-creating people from all over the world to buy a path to U.S. citizenship. It’s like the green card but better and more sophisticated. (Laughter.) And these people will have to pay tax in our country. They won’t have to pay tax from where they came. The money that they’ve made, you wouldn’t want to do that, but they have to pay tax, create jobs.
They’ll also be taking people out of colleges and paying for them so that we can keep them in our country, instead of having them being forced out. Number one at the top school, as an example, being forced out and not being allowed to stay and create tremendous numbers of jobs and great success for a company out there.
So, while we take out the criminals, killers, traffickers, and child predators who were allowed to enter our country under the open border policy of these people — the Democrats, the Biden administration — the open border, insane policies that you’ve allowed to destroy our country — we will now bring in brilliant, hardworking, job-creating people. They’re going to pay a lot of money, and we’re going to reduce our debt with that money. (Applause.)
Americans have given us a mandate for bold and profound change. For nearly 100 years, the federal bureaucracy has grown until it has crushed our freedoms, ballooned our deficits, and held back America’s potential in every possible way. The nation founded by pioneers and risk-takers now drowns under millions and millions of pages of regulations and debt.
Approvals that should take 10 days to get instead take 10 years, 15 years, and even 20 years before you’re rejected. Meanwhile, we have hundreds of thousands of federal workers who have not been showing up to work.
My administration will reclaim power from this unaccountable bureaucracy, and we will restore true democracy to America again. (Applause.) Any federal bureaucrat who resists this change will be removed from office immediately — (applause) — because we are draining the swamp. It’s very simple. And the days of rule by unelected bureaucrats are over. (Applause.)
And the next phase of our plan to deliver the greatest economy in history is for this Congress to pass tax cuts for everybody. They’re in there. They’re waiting for you to vote. (Applause.)
And I’m sure that the people on my right — I don’t mean the Republican right, but my right right here — I’m sure you’re going to vote for those tax cuts, because, otherwise, I don’t believe the people will ever vote you into office. So, I’m doing you a big favor by telling you that. (Applause.)
But I know this group is going to be voting for the taxes. (Applause.)
Thank you. It’s a very, very big part of our plan. We had tremendous success in our first term with it. A very big part of our plan. We’re seeking permanent income tax cuts all across the board.
And to get urgently needed relief to Americans hit especially hard by inflation, I’m calling for no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, and no tax on Social Security benefits for our great seniors. (Applause.)
(Addressing Speaker Johnson.) Good luck.
And I also want to make interest payments on car loans tax deductible but only if the car is made in America. (Applause.)
And, by the way, we’re going to have growth in the auto industry like nobody has ever seen. Plants are opening up all over the place. Deals are being made. Never seen. That’s a combination of the election win and tariffs.
It’s a beautiful word, isn’t it?
That, along with our other policies, will allow our auto industry to absolutely boom. It’s going to boom. Spoke to the majors today — all three — the top people, and they’re so excited. In fact, already, numerous car companies have announced that they will be building massive automobile plants in America, with Honda just announcing a new plant in Indiana, one of the largest anywhere in the world. (Applause.)
And this has taken place since our great victory on November 5th, a date which will hopefully go down as one of the most important in the history of our country. (Applause.)
In addition, as part of our tax cuts, we want to cut taxes on domestic production and all manufacturing. And just as we did before, we will provide 100 percent expensing. It will be retroactive to January 20th, 2025, and it was one of the main reasons why our tax cuts were so successful in our first term, giving us the most successful economy in the history of our country. First term — we had a great first term. (Applause.)
If you don’t make your product in America, however, under the Trump administration, you will pay a tariff and, in some cases, a rather large one. Other countries have used tariffs against us for decades, and now it’s our turn to start using them against those other countries.
On average, the European Union, China, Brazil, India, Mexico, and Canada — have you heard of them? — and countless other nations charge us tremendously higher tariffs than we charge them. It’s very unfair. India charges us auto tariffs higher than 100 percent. China’s average tariff on our products is twice what we charge them. And South Korea’s average tariff is four times higher. Think of that: four times higher. And we give so much help militarily and in so many other ways to South Korea, but that’s what happens.
This is happening by friend and foe. This system is not fair to the United States and never was. And so, on April 2nd — I wanted to make it April 1st, but I didn’t want to be accused of April Fool’s Day. (Laughter.) Just one day, which cost us a lot of money. (Laughter.) But we’re going to do it in April. I’m a very superstitious person. April 2nd, reciprocal tariffs kick in. And whatever they tariff us — other countries — we will tariff them. That’s reciprocal, back and forth. (Applause.) Whatever they tax us, we will tax them.
If they do non-monetary tariffs to keep us out of their market, then we will do non-monetary barriers to keep them out of our market. There’s a lot of that too. They don’t even allow us in their market.
We will take in trillions and trillions of dollars and create jobs like we have never seen before. I did it with China, and I did it with others. And the Biden administration couldn’t do anything about it because it was so much money. They couldn’t do anything about it.
We have been ripped off for decades by nearly every country on Earth, and we will not let that happen any longer. (Applause.)
Much has been said over the last three months about Mexico and Canada, but we have very large deficits with both of them. But even more importantly, they have allowed fentanyl to come into our country at levels never seen before, killing hundreds of thousands of our citizens and many very young, beautiful people — destroying families. Nobody has ever seen anything like it.
They are, in effect, receiving subsidies of hundreds of billions of dollars. We pay subsidies to Canada and to Mexico of hundreds of billions of dollars. And the United States will not be doing that any longer. We’re not going to do it any longer. (Applause.)
Thanks to our America First policies we’re putting into place, we have had $1.7 trillion of new investment in America in just the past few weeks. (Applause.) The combination of the election and our economic policies — the people of SoftBank, one of the most brilliant anywhere in the world, announced a $200 billion investment. OpenAI and Oracle — Larry Ellison — announced $500 billion investment, which they wouldn’t have done if Kamala had won. (Applause.)
Apple announced $500 billion investment. Tim Cook called me. He said, “I cannot spend it fast enough.” It’s going to be much higher than that, I believe. They’ll be building their plants here, instead of in China.
And just yesterday, Taiwan Semiconductor — the biggest in the world, most powerful in the world, has a tremendous amount — 97 percent of the market, announced a $165 billion investment to build the most powerful chips on Earth right here in the USA. (Applause.)
And we’re not giving them any money. Your CHIPS Act is a horrible, horrible thing. We give hundreds of billions of dollars, and it doesn’t mean a thing. They take our money, and they don’t spend it. All that meant to them — we’re giving them no money. All that was important to them was they didn’t want to pay the tariffs, so they came and they’re building. And many other companies are coming.
We don’t have to give them money. We just want to protect our businesses and our people. And they will come because they won’t have to pay tariffs if they build in America. And so, it’s very amazing.
You should get rid of the CHIP Act. And whatever is left over, Mr. Speaker, you should use it to reduce debt or any other reason you want to. (Applause.)
Our new trade policy will also be great for the American farmer — I love the farmer — (applause) — who will now be selling into our home market, the USA, because nobody is going to be able to compete with you. Because those goods that come in from other countries and companies, they’re really, really in a bad position in so many different ways. They’re uninspected. They may be very dirty and disgusting, and they come in and they pour in, and they hurt our American farmers.
The tariffs will go on agricultural product coming into America. And our farmers, starting on April 2nd — it may be a little bit of an adjustment period. We had that before, when I made the deal with China. Fifty billion dollars of purchases, and I said, “Just bear with me,” and they did. They did. Probably have to bear with me again, and this will be even better.
That was great. The problem with it was that Biden didn’t enforce it. He didn’t enforce it. Fifty billion dollars of purchases, and we were doing great, but Biden did not enforce it. And it hurt our farmers, but our farmers are going to have a field day right now.
So, to our farmers, have a lot of fun. I love you too. I love you too. (Applause.) It’s all going to happen.
And I have also imposed a 25 percent tariff on foreign aluminum, copper, lumber, and steel, because if we don’t have, as an example, steel and lots of other things, we don’t have a military and, frankly, we just won’t have a country very long.
Here today is a proud American steelworker, fantastic person from Decatur, Alabama. Jeff Denard has been working at the same steel plant for 27 years in a job that has allowed him to serve as the captain of his local volunteer fire department; raise seven children with his beautiful wife, Nicole; and over the years, provide a loving home for more than 40 foster children. So great, Jeff. (Applause.)
Thank you, Jeff. Thank you, Jeff. (Applause.)
Stories like Jeff’s remind us that tariffs are not just about protecting American jobs. They’re about protecting the soul of our country. 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. It won’t be much.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: No, we’re not!
THE PRESIDENT: No, you’re not. Oh. (Laughter.)
And look — and look where Biden took us. Very low. The lowest we’ve ever been.
Jeff, I want to thank you very much.
And I also want to recognize another person who has devoted herself to foster care community. She worked so hard on it. A very loving person. Our magnificent first lady of the United States. (Applause.)
Melania’s work has yielded incredible results, helping prepare our nation’s future leaders as they enter the workforce.
Our first lady is joined by two impressive young women — very impressive: Haley Ferguson, who benefited from the first lady’s Fostering the Future initiative and is poised to complete her education and become a teacher, and Elliston Berry, who became a victim of an illicit deepfake image produced by a peer. With Elliston’s help, the Senate just passed the Take It Down Act —
This is so important. Thank you very much, John. John Thune, thank you. (Applause.) Stand up, John. Thank you, John. (Applause.) Thank you all very much. Thank you.
And thank you to John Thune and the Senate. A great job.
— to criminalize the publication of such images online. This terrible, terrible thing. And once it passes the House, I look forward to signing that bill into law. Thank you.
And I’m going to use that bill for myself too, if you don’t mind — (laughter) — because nobody gets treated worse than I do online. Nobody. (Laughter.)
That’s great. Thank you very much to the Senate. Thank you.
But if we truly care about protecting America’s children, no step is more crucial than securing America’s borders. Over the past four years, 21 million people poured into the United States. Many of them were murderers, human traffickers, gang members, and other criminals from the streets of dangerous cities all throughout the world. Because of Joe Biden’s insane and very dangerous open border policies, they are now strongly embedded in our country, but we are getting them out and getting them out fast. (Applause.)
And I want to thank Tom Homan. And, Kristi, I want to thank you. And Paul of Border Patrol, I want to thank you. What a job they’ve all done. Everybody. Border Patrol, ICE. Law enforcement, in general, is incredible. We have to take care of our law enforcement. (Applause.) We have to.
Last year, a brilliant 22-year-old nursing student named Laken Riley — the best in her class, admired by everybody — went out for a jog on the campus of the University of Georgia. That morning, Laken was viciously attacked, assaulted, beaten, brutalized, and horrifically murdered. Laken was stolen from us by a savage illegal alien gang member who was arrested while trespassing across Biden’s open southern border and then set loose into the United States under the heartless policies of that failed administration. It was indeed a failed administration.
He had then been arrested and released in a Democrat-run sanctuary city — a disaster — before ending the life of this beautiful young angel.
With us this evening are Laken’s beloved mother, Allyson, and her sister, Lauren. (Applause.)
Last year, I told Laken’s grieving parents that we would ensure their daughter would not have died in vain. 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. It’s a very strong, powerful act. (Applause.) It’s called the Laken Riley Act. (Applause.)
So, Allyson and Lauren, America will never, ever forget our beautiful Laken Hope Riley. (Applause.)
Thank you very much.
Since taking office, my administration has launched the most sweeping border and immigration crackdown in American history, and we quickly achieved the lowest numbers of illegal border crossers ever recorded. Thank you. (Applause.)
The media and our friends in the Democrat Party kept saying we needed new legislation. “We must have legislation to secure the border.” But it turned out that all we really needed was a new president. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: Trump! Trump! Trump!
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you.
Joe Biden didn’t just open our borders. He flew illegal aliens over them to overwhelm our schools, hospitals, and communities throughout the country. Entire towns, like Aurora, Colorado, and Springfield, Ohio, buckled under the weight of the migrant occupation and corruption like nobody has ever seen before. Beautiful towns destroyed.
Now, just as I promised in my Inaugural Address, we are achieving the great liberation of America. (Applause.)
But there still is much work to be done.
Here tonight is a woman I have gotten to know: Alexis Nungaray from Houston. Wonderful woman. Last June, Alexis’s 12-year-old daughter, her precious Jocelyn, walked to a nearby convenience store. She was kidnapped, tied up, assaulted for two hours under a bridge, and horrifically murdered. Arrested and charged with this heinous crime are two illegal alien monsters from Venezuela, released into America by the last administration through their ridiculous open border.
The death of this beautiful 12-year-old girl and the agony of her mother and family touched our entire nation greatly.
Alexis, I promised that we would always remember your daughter — your magnificent daughter. And earlier tonight, I signed an order keeping my word to you.
One thing I have learned about Jocelyn is that she loved animals so much. She loved nature. 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.
So, Mr. Vice President, if you would, may I have the order? (Applause.)
(The president holds up the executive order.)
Thank you very much.
All three savages charged with Jocelyn and Laken’s murders were members of the Venezuelan prison gang — the toughest gang, they say, in the world — known as Tren de Aragua. Two weeks ago, I officially designated this gang, along with MS-13 and the bloodthirsty Mexican drug cartels, as foreign terrorist organizations. (Applause.) They are now officially in the same category as ISIS, and that’s not good for them.
Countless thousands of these terrorists were welcomed into the U.S. by the Biden administration, but now every last one will be rounded up and forcibly removed from our country, or, if they’re too dangerous, put in jails, standing trial in this country, because we don’t want them to come back ever.
With us this evening is a warrior on the front lines of that battle, Border Patrol agent Roberto Ortiz. Great guy. (Applause.)
In January, Roberto and another agent were patrolling by the Rio Grande, near an area known as Cartel Island — doesn’t sound too nice to me — when heavily armed gunmen started shooting at them. Roberto saw that his partner was totally exposed, in great danger, and he leapt into action, returning fire and providing crucial seconds for his fellow agent to seek safety, and just barely. I have some of the prints of that event, and it was not good.
Agent Ortiz, we salute you for your great courage and for your line of fire that you took and for the bravery that you showed. We honor you, and we will always honor you. Thank you, Roberto, very much. (Applause.) Thank you, Roberto.
And I actually got to know him on my many calls to the border. He’s a great, great gentleman.
The territory to the immediate south of our border is now dominated entirely by criminal cartels that murder, rape, torture, and exercise total control — they have total control over a whole nation — posing a grave threat to our national security. The cartels are waging war in America, and it’s time for America to wage war on the cartels, which we are doing. (Applause.)
Five nights ago, Mexican authorities, because of our tariff policies being imposed on them — think of this — handed over to us 29 of the biggest cartel leaders in their country. That has never happened before. They want to make us happy. (Applause.) First time ever.
But we need Mexico and Canada to do much more than they’ve done, and they have to stop the fentanyl and drugs pouring into the USA. They’re going to stop it.
I have 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, larger even than current record holder, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a moderate man but someone who believed very strongly in borders. Americans expect Congress to send me this funding without delay so I can sign it into law.
So, Mr. Speaker, John Thune, both of you, I hope you’re going to be able to do that. Mr. Speaker, thank you. Mr. Leader, thank you. Thank you very much. And let’s get it to me. I’ll sign it so fast, you won’t even believe it. (Applause.)
And as we reclaim our sovereignty, we must also bring back law and order to our cities and towns. (Applause.) In recent years, our justice system has been turned upside down by radical-left lunatics. Many jurisdictions virtually ceased enforcing the law against dangerous repeat offenders while weaponizing law enforcement against political opponents like me.
My administration has acted swiftly and decisively to restore fair, equal, and impartial justice under the constitutional rule of law, starting at the FBI and the DOJ.
Pam, good luck. Kash, wherever you may be, good luck. (Applause.) Good luck. Pam Bondi, good luck. So important. Going to do a great job. (Applause.)
Kash, thank you. Thank you, Kash. (Applause.)
They have already started very strong. They’re going to do a fantastic job. You’re going to be very proud of them.
We’re also, once again, giving our police officers the support, protection, and respect they so dearly deserve. They have to get it. They have such a hard, dangerous job, but we’re going to make it less dangerous. The problem is the bad guys don’t respect the law, but they’re starting to respect it, and they soon will respect it.
(Cross-talk.)
This also includes our great fire departments throughout the country. Our firemen and women are unbelievable people, and I will never forget them. And besides that, they voted for me in record numbers, so I have no choice. (Applause.)
One year ago this month, 31-year-old New York police officer Jonathan Diller — unbelievably wonderful person and a great officer — was gunned down at a traffic stop on Long Island. I went to his funeral. The vicious criminal charged with his murder had 21 prior arrests, and they were rough arrests too. He was a real bad one.
The thug in the seat next to him had 14 prior arrests and went by the name of “Killer.” He was Killer. He killed other people. They say a lot of them.
I attended Officer Diller’s service, and when I met his wife and one-year-old son, Ryan, it was very inspirational, actually. His widow’s name is Stephanie, and she is here tonight. Stephanie, thank you very much, Stephanie. Thank you very much. (Applause.)
Stephanie, we’re going to make sure that Ryan knows his dad was a true hero — New York’s Finest. And we’re going to get these cold-blooded killers and repeat offenders off our streets, and we’re going to do it fast. Got to stop it.
They get out with 28 arrests. They push people into subway trains. They hit people over the back of the head with baseball bats. We got to get them out of here.
I’ve already signed an executive order requiring a mandatory death penalty for anyone who murders a police officer. And, tonight, I’m asking Congress to pass that policy into permanent law. (Applause.)
I’m also asking for a new crime bill, getting tough on repeat offenders while enhancing protections for America’s police officers so they can do their jobs without fear of their lives being totally destroyed. They don’t want to be killed. We’re not going to let them be killed.
Joining us in the gallery tonight is a young man who truly loves our police. His name is D.J. Daniel. He is 13 years old, and he has always dreamed of becoming a police officer. (Applause.)
But in 2018, D.J. was diagnosed with brain cancer. The doctors gave him five months at most to live. That was more than six years ago. (Applause.)
Since that time, D.J. and his dad have been on a quest to make his dream come true, and D.J. has been sworn in as an honorary law enforcement officer, actually, a number of times. Pec- — the police love him. The police departments love him.
And tonight, D.J., we’re going to do you the biggest honor of them all. I am asking our new Secret Service director, Sean Curran, to officially make you an agent of the United States Secret Service. (Applause.)
Full speech of President Trump at the White house official page.
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