SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — President Trump used Tuesday's State of the Union address, the longest in history, to defend his immigration crackdown, claiming the country now has the most secure border in history.
The speech drew sharp reactions, including from local human rights advocates in San Diego who say the president's remarks misrepresent both the law and the data.
During one of the most polarizing moments of the night, Trump asked lawmakers to stand if they believed it was the government's duty to protect American citizens instead of undocumented immigrants. The moment drew a divided reaction from Congress, with Republicans giving a standing ovation and Democrats staying seated.
Pedro Rios, a human rights advocate and the director of the American Friends Service Committee, said the question itself reflected a misreading of the Constitution.
"Under this administration, their focus is not on protecting the constitution, which states that everyone in the United States is afforded the same due process, the same protections, the same protection under the bill of rights," Rios said.
Trump also brought up specific crimes committed by undocumented immigrants during his address. However, multiple studies, including one from Stanford University, show immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than U.S.-born citizens. Research from Syracuse University also found that a majority of people arrested by immigration agents over the last year had no criminal convictions.
That includes families I spoke with after their detention in San Diego, among them a Chula Vista couple from Colombia and Venezuela with no criminal record who, after their arrest, initially wanted to self-deport. Others I spoke with were detained while in the legal process, during routine ICE check-ins, or green card interviews.
Rios also noted that Trump made no mention in his speech of the 2 U.S. citizens killed by federal agents during an immigration operation in Minneapolis.
"He referred to migrants again as being the cause of so much troubles in our communities when we know that's not the case," Rios said.
Trump blamed Democrats for the state of immigration in the country, saying they should be "ashamed."
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
