Mar 04, 2025, 8:53 PM EST
Elon Musk receives some applause upon arrival
Elon Musk is now in the House chamber. There was a smattering of applause and cheers as he arrived.
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
Trump airs familiar grievances, charts MAGA plan in address before bitterly divided Congress
Sen. Elissa Slotkin delivered the Democratic response to Trump's address.
Last Updated: March 5, 2025, 12:09 AM EST
President Donald Trump addressed a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night, six weeks into his historic return to the White House.
During the speech, Trump said "America is back" and defended the tariffs on key U.S. trading partners. He touched on immigration and the mineral deal with Ukraine, but neglected to go into detail on his economic plan. The speech was also met with protests and disruptions from Democrats.
Key headlines:
- Mar 04, 2025, 11:35 PM EST
- Mar 04, 2025, 11:22 PM EST
- Mar 04, 2025, 11:20 PM EST
- Mar 04, 2025, 11:18 PM EST
- Mar 04, 2025, 11:16 PM EST
Here's how the news developed:
Mar 04, 2025, 8:52 PM EST
Riley Gaines in the speaker’s box
Riley Gaines -- a former University of Kentucky swimmer that has been outspoken against transgender athletes participating in female sports -- is seated in the speaker's box for Trump's address.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Gaines recently joined Trump at the signing ceremony for his executive order titled "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports," which seeks to bar transgender athletes from participating in women's sports.
Mar 04, 2025, 8:47 PM EST
VA Secretary Doug Collins is the designated survivor
Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins will sit out on Trump's joint address to Congress as the designated survivor, multiple sources tell ABC News.
A designated survivor is a Cabinet-level official selected by the White House who is ready to take the reins if everyone above him or her in the presidential line of succession dies in a crisis in the House chamber.
Collins will be given presidential level protection for the evening and escorted to an undisclosed location to watch the address.
– ABC News’ Katherine Faulders
Mar 04, 2025, 8:42 PM EST
It’s unclear how many migrants Trump has deported
One of Trump’s chief campaign promises was to deport millions of undocumented immigrants, starting with convicted criminals. But his administration has released only incomplete data on how successful it has been at that.
According to data posted on X, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 8,276 people between Jan. 22 and Jan. 31. It also issued 6,577 "detainers lodged" for people arrested by other law-enforcement agencies whom ICE has reason to believe are eligible for deportation. That's an average of 828 arrests and 658 detainers lodged per day.
That's a big increase from the last year of published statistics under former President Joe Biden's administration. Between Oct. 1, 2023, and Sept. 30, 2024, ICE reported 113,431 arrests, or an average of 310 per day. So Trump is certainly cracking down on immigration more than his predecessor did.
However, it's not nearly the pace the Trump administration needs to hit if it wants to achieve its stated goal of deporting every undocumented immigrant. The Pew Research Center estimated there were 11.0 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. in 2022. If ICE were to arrest 828 people and lodge 658 detainers per day every day going forward, it would take over 20 years to arrest or lodge a detainer against 11.0 million people.
And there’s another problem: We don’t have data beyond that one week. ICE hasn’t shared how many people it arrested and lodged detainers against since Jan. 31; it’s possible that it has significantly increased or decreased the pace since then. ICE also hasn’t released data on what share of those arrested have been criminals. Despite the administration’s anecdotal claims, there have been numerous news reports of ICE arresting immigrants who haven’t done anything wrong other than being in the country illegally.
—Nathaniel Rakich, 538
