‘Turnaround for the ages’: Trump boasts victory at the southern border — 0 illegal aliens entered in 9 months



During President Donald Trump's State of the Union speech Tuesday night, he highlighted his administration's successful immigration enforcement efforts as the Department of Homeland Security shutdown entered its 11th day.

Trump called the past year "a turnaround for the ages" in the United States after the prior administration allowed "11,888 murderers" to enter the U.S.

'You should be ashamed of yourself.'

"After four years in which millions and millions of illegal aliens poured across our borders, totally unvetted and unchecked," Trump stated, "we now have the strongest and most secure border in American history by far. In the past nine months, zero illegal aliens have been admitted to the United States. But we will always allow people to come in legally, people that will love our country and will work hard to maintain our country."

ICE has hired 12,000 additional officers and agents. During Trump's first year back in office, his administration has removed an estimated 3 million illegal aliens, including 2.2 million self-deportations and 675,000 deportations.

Trump was joined at the SOTU address by the parents of Sarah Beckstrom, a 20-year-old National Guard soldier who was fatally shot in Washington, D.C., allegedly by an Afghan man allowed into the country during former President Joe Biden's botched Afghanistan withdrawal.

Dalilah Coleman, a child who was left with critical and life-altering injuries at 5 years old as a result of a multi-car wreck caused by an illegal alien truck driver, also attended the event. Trump called on Congress to pass Dalilah's Law, which would bar any state from granting commercial driver's licenses to illegal aliens.

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Photo by David Dee Delgado/Getty Images

Trump slammed Democrats for the ongoing DHS shutdown, which prompted the agency to implement emergency measures to conserve resources, including halting all Federal Emergency Management Agency non-disaster-related response efforts, Global Entry, and airport police escorts for members of Congress.

"As we speak, Democrats in this chamber have cut off all funding for the Department of Homeland Security. ... Now they have closed the agency responsible for protecting Americans from terrorists and murderers. Tonight, I am demanding the full and immediate restoration of all funding for the border security, Homeland Security of the United States," Trump said.

The president urged lawmakers to demonstrate their commitment to prioritizing the protection of American citizens.

"If you agree with this statement, then stand up and show your support. The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens," Trump told lawmakers.

Republican lawmakers stood up in response, while most Democrats remained seated.

"You should be ashamed of yourself," Trump told Democrats who refused to stand. He also called on lawmakers to "end deadly sanctuary cities" and pass the SAVE America Act, which aims to keep noncitizens from voting in federal elections.

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Photo by DOMINIC GWINN/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

The DHS previously criticized Democratic lawmakers for causing three shutdowns that have impacted the agency.

"This is the third time that Democrat politicians have shut down this department during the 119th Congress," DHS Secretary Kristi Noem stated Sunday. "Shutdowns have real-world consequences, not just for the men and women of DHS and their families who go without a paycheck, but it endangers our national security."

Negotiations to end the shutdown appear to be stalled, with Democrats demanding ICE reforms.

"It is our view that immigration enforcement in this country should be fair, it should be just, and it should be humane," House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) stated last week.

"That's not what's happening now in the United States of America, and that's why ICE needs to be reformed in a dramatic, bold, meaningful, and transformational manner," Jeffries continued. "And if that doesn't happen, the DHS funding bill will not move forward."

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Democrats' reckless refusal to fund DHS leaves TSA agents struggling without paychecks — again



A partial shutdown of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security entered its third day Monday, leaving thousands of Transportation Security Administration agents and other essential workers without pay as they continue performing critical duties at airports nationwide.

The funding lapse, which began early Saturday, stems from a breakdown in negotiations between congressional Democrats and Republicans over proposed restrictions on Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations.

'This is getting very old, and we’re hoping this is not going to become the new normal.'

Even WPRI in Rhode Island noted Democrats' role in the shutdown: “The Department of Homeland Security officially shut down on Saturday after Democrats refused to fund it. They want new restrictions on ICE agents following the deadly shootings of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis.”

The shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti have intensified tensions surrounding immigration enforcement. Democrats have insisted on new limits on DHS funding, while Republicans have accused them of holding up critical funding to secure policy concessions.

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TSA screeners, deemed essential personnel, are required to report for duty despite the funding lapse.

Reporting from T.F. Green International Airport in Rhode Island, WPRI’s Sophia Szabo said TSA agents are still recovering from a 43-day government shutdown last year.

“That’s a long time to work without a paycheck,” Szabo said, noting lawmakers have roughly two weeks to reach a deal before another missed pay period.

The impact on workers is mounting.

“This is getting very old, and we’re hoping this is not going to become the new normal, but it does seem that it’s going in that direction,” a union representative for TSA agents in New England said. “A lot of the officers are very anxious because we’re in the middle of winter, and now we’re going to have to choose between paying for heat and paying for food and rent if the checks don’t come through in the next couple of weeks. Because in two weeks, in the next pay period, we’re only going to have half a check, and so choices are going to have to be made — and we shouldn’t be put in this position again.”

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Szabo added that staffing shortages have worsened since the previous shutdown.

“According to a union representing TSA agents across New England, there has been a significant shortage of these agents since that last shutdown, and they’re already struggling to recruit more,” she reported.

The shutdown affects agencies within DHS, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Coast Guard, and the Secret Service.

Congress is currently in recess until Feb. 23, leaving a narrow window to resolve the impasse before broader operational impacts emerge.

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'Target their families': Fetterman slams Democrats' absurd ICE demands, cites doxxing concerns



Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman has yet again bucked his party as tensions rise between ICE and Democrat-backed agitators.

Democrats facilitated a partial shutdown late last week after stalling a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security, citing their disapproval of law enforcement operations in Minneapolis. Notably, the DHS funding bill would primarily fund FEMA and other emergency services, with the majority of ICE's funding coming from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed last summer.

'Don't ever, ever doxx people and target their families.'

Despite this, Democrats like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer have laid out a list of demands they want to see implemented in the DHS funding bill, including a prohibition of face masks on federal agents.

Fetterman joined Republicans sounding off on the demands, arguing that their face coverings ensure that unhinged activists can't doxx agents' private information with the intention of endangering them or their families.

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Photo by Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images

"The agents wearing masks, I think, primarily that's driven by people who are going to doxx those people," Fetterman said. "That's a serious concern, too, absolutely. They could target their families, and they are organizing these people to get their names out there."

"Don't ever, ever doxx people and target their families," Fetterman added.

Although Democrats have shown they are willing to shut down the government, the Trump administration and his political allies on Capitol Hill have indicated that they aren't going to budge, especially on facial masks and carrying personal identification.

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Tom Brenner for the Washington Post via Getty Images

"Those two things are conditions that would create further danger," Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said. "I mean, Tom Homan told Leader Schumer himself ... that 'that's one of the demands I'm not going to implement. I have to protect my officers.' And when you have people doxxing them and targeting them, of course we don't want their personal identification out there on the street."

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