With the stage set for President Donald Trump’s first official State of the Union (SOTU) address this evening (Feb. 24), Americans are preparing to hear a much needed update on how the country is doing and what the president’s future plans are.
Suggested Reading
If you’ve been paying any attention to his first year back in the White House, then you’re probably well aware of the president’s bad habit of making false claims and misleading statements. So ahead of Trump’s highly-anticipated speech, we’re diving deep into three key issues that the administration hasn’t been totally truthful about.
Immigration
The president’s mass deportation policy will certainly be on his docket tonight. Trump has repeatedly boasted that his immigration agenda is the most efficient and effective in American history. But that’s not all the way true, is it?
We previously told you the U.S. experienced negative net migration last year, and while the president has celebrated this as an obvious indicator of his successful policy, the data tells a different story. The Brookings Institute found the negative number is largely due to the drop in immigrants coming crossing the border and not because Trump is deporting a record number of people. Voluntary self-deportation reportedly also played a huge role in these figures.
“At 310,000 to 315,000, the 2025 removals are not much higher than the 2024 removals of around 285,000,” the report also noted. Last year, the majority of deportations were initiated by Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which suggests ICE presence in American cities isn’t as effective as Trump has said.
It’s also important to note that the majority of people currently sitting in immigration detention centers do not have criminal records — the exact opposite of what the administration claims, according to the American Immigration Council.
Economy
Trump will more than likely bring up his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, in order to try to boost his own record on the economy. Trump previously claimed America was economically “dead” before he came back and “rescued” us.
When Biden left office, unemployment averaged 4.1 percent– well below the historic average. The country regained millions of lost jobs from COVID-19 and even added 6 million more, according to Fact Check. But once Trump came back into office, tariff wars, drastic cuts to key government agencies and the firing of hundreds of thousands of federal workers resulted in major negative shifts in the economy.
At this point in Trump’s second term, the economy continues to perform strongly, but experts warn that any unprecedented changes made by the president can impact the economy.
Elections
With midterms just months away, the president will more than likely have plenty to say about how Republicans are winning back Americans and will see major success come November. But if you take a quick look at any of the recent elections, then you’d see Republicans are struggling a lot more than what the president makes it seem like.
Last November ushered in a massive blue wave across the country. Gerrymandering efforts championed by Trump were met by Democrat-led redistricting counter efforts, which continues to foil Trump’s plans to stay in power. As it stands now, the GOP controls both sides of Congress and the executive branch, but by November, Republican control might look vastly different.
Straight From 
Sign up for our free daily newsletter.