Trump’s speech was full of wild claims. Here are seven that weren’t true

President Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress highlighted several of the initiatives he has started in his first six weeks in office, but many of his comments included false and misleading information.

Here’s a look at the facts.

1. Trump overstated the numbers on his immigration crackdown

‘Illegal border crossings last month were by far the lowest ever recorded. Ever.’

Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Saturday that Border Patrol apprehended 8326 people on the US-Mexico border last month. But US government data shows that Border Patrol routinely averaged below that number in the 1960s.

While February marked the lowest arrest total in decades, Border Patrol averaged fewer monthly arrests than the February number during the first seven years of the 1960s. The government website does not track US-Mexico border arrests before 1960. Border Patrol’s monthly average was 1752 arrests in 1961.

Donald Trump speaking at the Capitol.Credit: AP

2. Trump inflated the number of people who entered the US illegally under president Joe Biden

‘Over the past four years, 21 million people poured into the United States. Many of them were murderers, human traffickers, gang members.’

That figure, which Trump cites regularly, is highly inflated. US Customs and Border Protection reported more than 10.8 million arrests for illegal crossings from Mexico between January 2021 and December 2024.

But that is arrests, not people. Under asylum restrictions during the pandemic, many people crossed more than once until they succeeded because there were no legal consequences for getting turned back to Mexico. So the number of people is lower than the number of arrests.

There is no evidence other countries are sending their criminals or people with mental illnesses across the border into the US, despite this frequent line from Trump.

3. Economists differ with Trump on tariffs

‘Tariffs are about making America rich again and making America great again. And it’s happening. And it will happen rather quickly. There’ll be a little disturbance, but we’re OK with that. It won’t be much.’

Trump is banking on the idea that taxing imports is the road to riches for the United States. Most economists say Trump’s tariffs would hurt the country as they are tax increases that could raise the costs of goods in ways that could also harm economic growth. Trump suggests that the impact on inflation would be minimal.

When the Yale University Budget Lab looked at the tariffs that Trump imposed on Tuesday on Canada, Mexico and China, it found that inflation would increase a full percentage point, growth would fall by half a percentage point and the average household would lose about $US1600 ($2550) a year in disposable income.

A Democratic House member holds a sign as Trump addresses a joint session of Congress.Credit: AP

4. There’s no evidence Social Security money is being paid to many people aged over 100

‘Believe it or not, government databases list 4.7 million Social Security members from people aged 100 to 109 years old. It lists 3.6 million people from ages 110 to 119 ... 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 are searching right now.’

The databases may list those people, but that does not mean they are getting paid benefits.

Part of the confusion comes from Social Security’s software system based on the COBOL programming language, which doesn’t use a specific format for dates. This means that some entries with missing or incomplete birthdates will default to a reference point of more than 150 years ago. The news organisation Wired first reported on the use of COBOL programming language at the Social Security Administration.

Additionally, a series of reports from the Social Security Administration’s inspector-general in March 2023 and July 2024 state that the agency has not established a new system to properly annotate death information in its database, which included roughly 18.9 million Social Security numbers of people born in 1920 or earlier who were not marked as deceased. This does not mean, however, that these people were receiving benefits.

The agency decided not to update the database because of the cost to do so, which would run upwards of $9 million. As of September 2015, the agency automatically stops payments to people who are older than 115 years old.

Elon Musk during Trump’s address.Credit: AP

5. Trump did not inherit an ‘economic catastrophe’

‘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.’

Inflation in the US peaked at 9.1 per cent in 2022 under president Joe Biden, but Trump did not inherit a disastrous economy by any measure. The unemployment rate ticked down to a low 4 per cent in January, the month he took office, while the economy expanded a healthy 2.8 per cent in 2024.

Inflation-adjusted incomes have grown steadily since mid-2023. And inflation, while showing signs of stickiness recently and still elevated at 3 per cent in January, is down from its 2022 peak.

The House chamber at the US Capitol in Washington.Credit: AP

6. Trump’s reference to an ‘EV mandate’ is inaccurate

‘We ended the last administration’s insane electric vehicle mandate, saving our auto workers and companies from economic destruction.’

There was no federal mandate to force the purchase of electric vehicles, as Trump has falsely claimed many times before.

Biden had set up a non-binding goal that EVs make up half of new cars sold by 2030. Trump issued an executive order on his first day in office revoking that goal.

Biden’s policies tightened restrictions on pollution from petrol-powered cars and trucks in an effort to encourage Americans to buy EVs and to get car companies to shift from petrol-powered vehicles to electric cars.

Credit: AP

7. A closer look at army recruitment numbers

‘I am pleased to report that in January, the US Army had its single best recruiting month in 15 years.’

Trump has repeatedly claimed that the US Army’s recruiting turnaround is tied to his time in office.

In fact, according to army data, recruiting numbers have been increasing steadily over the past year, with the highest total coming in August 2024, before the November election. Army officials closely track recruiting numbers.

A significant driver of the recruiting success was the army’s decision to launch the Future Soldier Prep Course at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, in August 2022. That program gives lower-performing recruits up to 90 days of academic or fitness instruction to help them meet military standards and move on to basic training.

AP

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