Trump State of the Union fact-checkers find mixed verdict on claims

Fact-checkers have given a mixed verdict on the president Donald TrumpThe State of the Union address supports some claims on immigration and crime while contradicting others on voter fraud, Medicaid, and foreign conflicts.

Reviews from PolitiFact, FactCheck.org, The New York Times and others found that Trump’s assertion that “illegal aliens” would not be allowed into the country was an accurate description even though illegal crossings remained at low levels.

Fact-checkers also confirmed his claims that the national homicide rate is at a historic low, but called his statements about “rampant” voter fraud, Medicaid and the number of wars he has ended misleading.

The fact checks underscored how Trump’s speech was a mix of verifiable points and broader claims that made headlines but may be misleading to voters, whom Trump hopes Republicans will keep in power in Congress as he prepares for a tough 2026 midterm election cycle.

Immigration

When Trump said Tuesday that “no illegal aliens are being admitted into the United States,” he was referring to the U.S. Border Patrol detaining or deporting migrants trying to enter the country illegally or using asylum claims, rather than following the Biden administration’s protocol and releasing them into the country.

Fact-checkers acknowledged the decline in illegal immigration policies under Trump. They noted that illegal border crossings still occur, but at a much lower frequency.

Fact-checkers have issued a mixed verdict on President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address. (Kenny Holston/Pool via Reuters)

“Encounters with people trying to cross the southern US border illegally have decreased significantly during Trump’s second term.” PolitiFact He pointed out that the authorities encountered about 10,000 migrants in January, compared to more than 60,000 migrants in January 2025.

Trump’s statements about Illegal immigrants Fact checkers found that the commission of the crimes was more controversial, noting that the Department of Homeland Security’s numbers do not reflect that the Biden administration allowed nearly 12,000 killers to enter the country illegally, as Trump claimed during his speech.

Trump takes direct swipe at Democrats on taxes: ‘For hurting people’

NPR noted that Trump She described the killer of Ukrainian refugee Irina Zarutska as an immigrant, although there is no evidence of this. The outlet noted that local media reported that the suspect, DeCarlos DeJuan Brown Jr., was born in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Brown was seen on horrific surveillance footage stabbing Zarutzka, 23, repeatedly while she was at the scene Ride the light rail home from work in August 2025. Her killing became a national example of the lenient policies local prosecutors have toward repeat offenders.

When Trump said more broadly that the country’s murder rate was the lowest in 125 years, fact-checkers found that to be true.

“Eight wars”

Many fact-checkers objected to Trump’s claim that he had ended “eight wars.”

Trump received widespread praise for brokering a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which led to the return of Israeli hostages, and the president was also credited with establishing a truce between Israel and Iran after carrying out devastating airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

During his State of the Union address, President Donald Trump warned against the Iranian nuclear program. (Kenny Holston/The New York Times via AP)

New York Times He said that the eight wars were “exaggerated.” FactCheck.org The number is called “amplified”.

Fact-checkers pointed to Trump’s disputed involvement in the ceasefire between India and Pakistan. Trump “also accounts for some international disputes that were not wars,” FactCheck.org said.

Trump was involved in mediating a border dispute between Cambodia and Thailand, and brokered peace agreements between Armenia and Azerbaijan as well as Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Trump also referred to the wars between Serbia and Kosovo, and Egypt and Ethiopia, but some said they involved tense disputes and did not rise to the level of war.

Voter fraud

The most important flashpoint for fact-checkers was Trump’s assertion that “fraud is rampant” in the federal government elections.

“Trump has made a rapid series of false claims about the US election,” the CNN correspondent wrote. Daniel Dale.

Trump made the comments while calling on Congress to pass the Save America Act, which would impose physical proof of citizenship requirements on anyone who registers to vote in federal elections.

It is illegal for noncitizens to vote, and voters must declare, under penalty of perjury, that they are U.S. citizens as part of the registration process. State officials are required by federal law to practice voter roll maintenance to ensure the authenticity of registered voters.

State and federal prosecutions of noncitizen voting have been extremely rare, but Trump and his base have maintained that noncitizen voting is widespread and simply undetected.

The White House says the homicide rate fell to the lowest level since 1900 under the Trump administration

Empty envelopes of open mail-in ballots for the presidential primary are stacked on a table at King County Elections in Renton, Washington on March 10, 2020. (Jason Redmond/AFP via Getty Images)

NPR cited the remarks of election expert David Pecker, who runs the nonprofit Center for Election Innovation and Research.

“Even countries that are looking everywhere to try to inflate the numbers of noncitizens… when you actually look, it’s a surprisingly, shockingly small number,” Baker said.

The New York Times said the number of noncitizens who cast ballots was “extremely small,” citing a study conducted by Trump’s Department of Homeland Security that found that as many as 0.2% of registered voters could be noncitizens.

Jobs

Fact-checkers called Trump’s assertion that more Americans are working than ever before as true, but said the president’s claim about job growth was misleading.

The New York Times noted that job growth remained flat under Trump while the population was the largest ever, meaning labor force participation did not keep pace with population.

Click here to download the FOX NEWS app

Medical aid protection

Fact-checkers refute Trump’s claim he ‘always will’ Medicaid protectionNoting that the “big, beautiful bill,” his landmark tax and spending plan enacted in July 2025, cut nearly $1 trillion from the program by changing its eligibility requirements.

“With fewer people in Medicaid, the cost of the program is lower,” FactCheck.org noted.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.

Related article