From immigration to tariffs to government efficiency, President Donald Trump touched on myriad topics during his 100-minute address to the nation’s leaders and the American people on Tuesday night, March 4 — setting a record for the longest address to a joint session of Congress.
The president’s address “highlighted wins for our nation,” the Republican Party of Orange County said in a statement shortly after Trump finished his joint address to Congress.
“From a staggering drop in illegal immigration to protecting women’s sports to reducing bureaucracy to making American healthy again and much much more, President Trump reminded Americans that the promises he made on the campaign trail have been promises kept as president,” party officials said.
Meanwhile, several Southern California representatives were among a group of Democrats who walked out of the speech, including Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-Los Angeles, Rep. Dave Min, D-Irvine and Rep. Mark Takano, D-Riverside.
“It’s painfully clear that the commander-in-chaos does not care about this country or the hardworking people who fight every day to support their families and communities,” Kamlager-Dove said in a statement. “If he truly cared, he wouldn’t be firing the people who process disaster relief or send out Social Security checks.”
Early in his speech, Trump brought up immigration, a central issue during his campaign. He touted that in February, illegal border crossings were at a record low.
Trump, who has called for the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants in response to a national emergency, also introduced as guests on Tuesday night the mother and sister of Laken Riley, a Georgia nursing student who was killed while out for a jog. The man who was found guilty of murdering her was a Venezuelan migrant.
Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks, took issue with Trump only bringing up examples of immigrants who commit criminal acts.
“What he failed to focus on was how many times immigrants saved the lives of Americans,” said Sherman, noting that many immigrants work in places such as assisted living facilities or are Dreamers who go on to become health care professionals. “For every American who died at the hand of an immigrant, there were thousands saved by an immigrant.”
Angelica Salas, executive director for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, or CHIRLA, said actions by the Trump administration have torn apart families and led to children being bullied in schools due to their perceived immigration status, but she vowed immigrant communities will “continue to show resilience and strength.”
Southern California, in particular, has a large undocumented population. In 2021, nearly 3 million residents across all Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties were undocumented or lived in a household with an undocumented family member, with 1.9 million residing in Los Angeles, according to the California Immigrant Data Portal.
“They will continue to contribute to their families and the country, take their children to school, attend faith services, celebrate birthdays and anniversaries, and learn their rights to ensure they are prepared to stay in the country they call home,” Salas said. “President Trump may incite his own forces to disturb the dreams of many while the rich and powerful get even richer, but our community will stay focused on learning, adapting, and preparing to ensure our dreams and aspirations are fulfilled.”
One of the issues drawing pushback from Democrats in the chamber was Medicaid — despite Trump not mentioning it in his address.
Several Democrats held up signs during Trump’s speech reading “Save Medicaid,” including Orange County’s Min, before he ultimately walked out.
While Trump did not directly mention Medicaid in his address, he has previously said the health insurance program for lower-income Americans, along with Medicare and Social Security, will not be cut. Republicans have also noted that the House GOP’s budget resolution, passed last week, does not include specific cuts to Medicaid, but critics say the proposed $880 billion in spending cuts over the next decade will inevitably lead to significant reductions in coverage.
Min, who sits on the House Oversight Committee, said there is no way to make those cuts happen without slashing Medicaid spending.
Millions of Californians would be impacted if Medicaid cuts are included in Congress’s final budget plan, according to the California Budget and Policy Center.
“These are going to have devastating impacts on children, primarily, and that’s the thing that’s so inhumane and cruel and immoral about this budget,” Min said, reached shortly after Trump concluded his address.
Min said more than 100,000 people in his district, including seniors and more than 50% of kids, rely on Medicaid and could lose coverage. His youngest son was born five weeks premature and had to stay in the NICU, which Min said would’ve bankrupted the family without insurance.
“We’re relatively well off, but hospital stays are expensive, childcare is expensive, medical care is expensive,” he said.
Min went on: “I thought it was particularly ironic that the theme of tonight’s speech was about renewing the American dream. He didn’t offer one concrete proposal for actually how to do that. He didn’t address housing costs. He didn’t talk about any real economic policies other than tariffs and cutting inefficiency.”
On Tuesday, Trump reiterated his campaign pledge to “pass tax cuts for everybody,” vowing to eliminate taxes on tips, overtime pay and Social Security benefits for seniors. He also proposed allowing interest payments on car loans to be tax-deductible for vehicles manufactured in the U.S. and cutting taxes on domestic production.
“Over the past six weeks, I have signed nearly 100 Executive Orders and taken more than 400 Executive Actions to restore common sense, safety, optimism, and wealth all across our wonderful land,” Trump said. “The people elected me to do the job, and I am doing it.”
Republican Rep. Ken Calvert, of Corona, praised the president, saying he is “already delivering on many of the promises he made during the 2024 campaign.”
“Looking ahead, President Trump and Congress must work together to provide families with relief from higher prices and prevent a massive tax increase they are facing with tax cuts expiring at the end of 2025,” Calvert said.
“To strengthen our national security, we need to disrupt the status quo and leverage American innovation into a technological advantage on the battlefield. Investments ensuring our military superiority will deter our adversaries and pave the path toward a more peaceful future,” he added.
Joel Fox, a senior fellow at Pepperdine University’s School of Public Policy, said both Trump and Democrats engaged in “performance arts” Tuesday night.
“Democrats didn’t help themselves,” Fox said, “booing or walking out.”
At the same time, Fox didn’t think Trump won over anyone who was already strongly opposed to him, but the president may have convinced someone who was impartial heading into Tuesday night to give him a chance.
“I think if somebody was impartial, he probably scored some points on immigration issues by introducing people who were victims of criminal immigrants,” said Fox, adding that someone who wasn’t prejudiced against Trump might have been impressed when the president listed out, as Trump called it, “some of the appalling waste” already identified by his new Department of Government Efficiency among foreign aid and domestic spending – some for DEI initiatives.
“I think what he (Trump) set out to do, he accomplished,” Fox said.
This is a developing story, please check back for more.
Originally Published:
