CBS News’ Confirmed team is fact checking President Trump’s 2025 joint address to Congress Tuesday night, his first speech to both chambers of Congress since he won the presidential election in November. He’s expected to speak about his domestic and foreign policy agenda, the economy, his administration’s efforts to contain illegal immigration, and his plans for foreign policy, including the Middle East and Ukraine-Russia war.
Partially true: Trump claims illegal border crossings in February were “the lowest ever recorded.”
Trump: “As a result, illegal border crossings last month were by far, the lowest ever recorded. Ever.”
Details: The number of migrants crossing the U.S. southern border illegally in the first full month of President Trump’s second term plunged to a level not seen in at least 25 years, according to preliminary government data obtained by CBS News.
In February, Border Patrol recorded about 8,450 migrant apprehensions between official points of entry along the U.S.-Mexico border, the statistics show.
The total, which may still be adjusted when the data are published, would mark the lowest monthly apprehensions since fiscal year 2000, the earliest period with publicly available monthly data. While monthly data before fiscal year 2000 is not publicly available, the last time Border Patrol averaged roughly 8,000 apprehensions per month over a year was in fiscal year 1968, according to historical statistics.
February’s total is a seismic change from recent years. During some days during a record-breaking spike in migrant crossings in 2023, the Biden administration recorded over 8,000 apprehensions in 24 hours.
By Camilo Montoya-Galvez
Partially true: Trump claims U.S. maybe suffered “worst inflation in 48 years…perhaps in the history of our country”
Trump: “We suffered the worst inflation in 48 years, but perhaps even in the history of our country- they’re not sure.”
This is partially true: the rate of inflation in June 2022 was the highest since 1981, but not the highest of all time.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the June 2022 inflation reading of 9% was the highest since November 1981. But inflation was higher for longer in the 1970s and 1980s, peaking in April 1980 at 14.6%.
That inflationary period was above 9% for around two years, and above the target 2% rate for nearly a decade. Under Biden, inflation was elevated for about two years as well, but at lower levels. Inflation stands at 3% as of January 2025.
By Emily Pandise
Partially true: Trump says he has withdrawn from the World Health Organization
Trump: “I withdrew from the corrupt World Health Organization.”
Details: While Mr. Trump has signed an executive order announcing his intention to begin the yearlong process to withdraw from the World Health Organization, the withdrawal has not been completed yet – and both the president and the WHO have expressed openness to talks on potentially keeping the U.S. within the U.N. agency’s membership.
In the meantime, Trump administration officials have been forced to grant exemptions for U.S. health officials multiple times to collaborate with the WHO, for instance, in the response to the Ebola outbreak in Uganda.
The Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were also allowed by the Trump administration to contribute to a key WHO meeting to update the annual flu vaccine, after concerns that a U.S. withdrawal from the process could undermine the ability to update next season’s shots accurately.
By Alexander Tin
Partially true: Trump claims Biden “let the price of eggs get out of control”
Trump: “Joe Biden especially let the price of eggs get out of control—and we are working hard to get it back down.”
Details: While it is true that prices of eggs climbed to record highs under President Joe Biden, the Biden administration also launched several efforts attempting to address the bird flu outbreak, which officials and experts agree is largely to blame for the surge in egg prices.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced last month a new plan to combat the bird flu outbreak. But Biden administration and local agriculture officials said many of the proposals and funding touted by the Trump administration merely extended efforts launched under former President Joe Biden.
Rollins also said officials had begun talks with other countries to temporarily boost egg imports to the U.S. market, but agriculture officials later said those private purchases would not be subsidized by taxpayer dollars.
Some of the biggest changes that Trump administration officials had initially floated, like changing the “stamping out” approach to culling all poultry flocks after they are infected, were ultimately walked back for now.
Agriculture Department officials said they were also ramping up planning around potentially vaccinating poultry, but said they would only launch immunizations if they first cleared key hurdles that have long blocked the rollout of vaccinations – better vaccines and a plan that would satisfy concerns from trade partners.
