Fact checking Trump’s 2026 State of the Union tackle | USAEMALL.com

CBS News is fact checking President Trump’s 2026 State of the Union address Tuesday night. The president is touting his first-year accomplishments and plans for his agenda this year, in the months before the midterm elections in November. 

Here are some of the claims the president made during his speech, and CBS News’ ratings and context for those claims:

True: Trump claims murder rate saw its largest decline in recorded history last year

“Last year, the murder rate saw its single largest decline in recorded history. This is the biggest decline, think of it, in recorded history — the lowest number in over 125 years.”

Details: 

• Preliminary data from independent researchers suggests that homicides may have hit an 125-year low last year, although the FBI’s official annual crime report for 2025 will not be released until later this year.
• A January study by the Council on Criminal Justice, or CCJ, found a “strong possibility” that the 2025 homicide rate will drop to about 4 per 100,000 residents, which would be the lowest recorded in law enforcement or public health data dating back to 1900. The homicide rate has been declining since 2022, according to annual FBI reports.
• The CCJ report also noted that the reasons for last year’s decline are not clear, but researchers say possible influences include “changes in criminal justice policies and programs, shifts in the use of technology, and broader social, economic, and cultural trends.”

By Laura Doan

Partially true: Trump claims that in the past 9 months, no illegal immigrants have been admitted into the U.S.

“In the past nine months, zero illegal aliens have been admitted to the United States.”

Details: 

Mr. Trump is likely referring to the number of migrants released by Border Patrol after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally.

Over the past nine months, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has reported zero releases of migrants by Border Patrol along the U.S. southern border.

That does not necessarily mean every single migrant who has entered the U.S. illegally since Mr. Trump took office has been deported.

Some migrants initially arrested by Border Patrol and then transferred to the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement could be released by that agency, though the Trump administration has sought to bar those who entered the U.S. illegally from being eligible for bond.

Border Patrol’s numbers also do not account for migrants who enter the U.S. illegally surreptitiously, without being caught by Border Patrol agents. It’s unclear how many of those so-called “got-aways” have been recorded under the second Trump administration.

Overall, illegal border crossings have plummeted under Mr. Trump’s second administration, falling to the lowest level since 1970 in fiscal year 2025. Still, thousands of migrants continue crossing into the U.S. illegally each month. In January, Border Patrol apprehended roughly 6,000 migrants after they crossed the southern border unlawfully, government data show.

By Camilo Montoya-Galvez

Misleading: Trump claims more Americans working today than at any time in U.S. history 

“More Americans are working today than at any time in the history of our country. Think about that — any time in the history of our country, more working today. And 100% of all jobs created under my administration have been in the private sector.”

Details: 

Preliminary data from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics show there are roughly 158.6 million people employed in the U.S., as of January 2026, which is more than at any other point on record. But the total number of employed people usually rises as the population grows. About 157 million people were employed when President Joe Biden left office in January 2025.

Economists generally rely on the share of people working to compare labor market strength over time, which has remained largely flat over the past year. The labor force participation rate sat at 62.5% in January, which is identical to the rate in December 2024, Biden’s last full month in office. 

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate has ticked up under Mr. Trump to 4.3% from 4.1% in December 2024.

By Aaron Navarro 

False/not supported: Trump claims he’s secured $18 trillion in new investment in the U.S.

“In four long years, the last administration got less than $1 trillion in new investment in the United States. And when I say less, substantially less. In 12 months, I secured commitments for more than $18 trillion, pouring in from all over the globe.”

Details: 

• According to the US Bureau of Economic Analysis, new foreign direct investments over Biden’s four years in office did add up to less than $1 trillion.
• But a CBS News review found no evidence that total commitments or new investments approach the scale the president has cited. New investment of $18 trillion would represent almost 60% of U.S. GDP.
• The administration’s own list of major investment commitments “made possible by President Trump’s leadership” totaled $9.6 trillion as of the latest update in November, but even that figure is exaggerated and includes some investments announced while Biden was president.
• Additionally, federal data shows corporate investment levels are similar to levels last year, with U.S. companies on track to invest over $5 trillion in 2025. Overall, since the end of the pandemic, corporate investment has been rising.

By Jui Sarwate

False: Trump claims gas is “now below $2.30 a gallon in most states”

“Gasoline, which reached a peak of over $6 a gallon in some states under my predecessor — it was, quite honestly, a disaster — is now below $2.30 a gallon in most states, and in some places, $1.99 a gallon. And when I visited the great state of Iowa just a few weeks ago, I even saw $1.85 a gallon for gasoline.”

Details: 

While gas prices have dropped from a national peak of $5.02 in June 2022 to $2.95, according to AAA, they are not below $2.30 in most states. 

Only one state, Oklahoma, had an average gas price around $2.30 as of Feb. 24, according to AAA data. According to GasBuddy, which tracks prices at roughly 150,000 stations nationwide, the cheapest 10% of all stations had gas priced at $2.30, as of February 23. Only eight gas stations nationwide were selling a gallon of gas for under $2, GasBuddy told CBS News. 

Trump specifically mentioned $1.85 gas in Iowa. AAA did report Iowa among the 10 states with the lowest prices – but the average price in the state was $2.50.

By Laura Doan, Julia Ingram, John Kelly

Misleading: Trump claims “members of the Somali community have pillaged an estimated $19 billion from the American taxpayer”

“When it comes to the corruption that is plundering — really, it’s plundering America — there’s been no more stunning example than Minnesota, where members of the Somali community have pillaged an estimated $19 billion from the American taxpayer.”

Details: 

• President Trump’s “estimated $19 billion dollars” figure refers to the roughly $18 billion in federal funds that supported over a dozen state-run programs in Minnesota since 2018.
• The exact extent of the fraud and losses is still being investigated. In December 2025, a top prosecutor suggested the total amount of fraud could be $9 billion or more.
• More than 90% of the people charged in major fraud cases announced before December 2025 were of Somali descent, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Minnesota. But the number of people of Somali descent charged, 82 individuals, is a small fraction of the Somali community across the state. Census Bureau data shows that there are more than 107,000 people who identify as Somali in the state.
• Prosecutors have said the mastermind behind Feeding Our Future, Minnesota’s biggest fraud scheme to date, is Aimee Bock, a White woman. 

By Emma Li

Misleading: Trump claims tariffs are paid for by foreign countries and take “a great financial burden off the people that I love”

“As time goes by, I believe that tariffs, paid for by foreign countries, will, like in the past, substantially replace the modern-day system of income tax, taking a great financial burden off the people that I love.”

Details: 

Mr. Trump and the White House maintain that it’s foreign companies and exporters who pay for tariffs. He wrote in a January Wall Street Journal op-ed that data shows tariffs have “fallen overwhelmingly on foreign producers and middlemen.”

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York published an analysis in February that found over 90% of Mr. Trump’s 2025 tariffs were passed onto U.S. consumers and businesses in the form of higher costs. It found that from January through August of last year, U.S. importers bore 94% of tariff costs. That decreased slightly in November, as exporters began to take up more of the burden, but U.S. importers still remained on the hook for 86% of the tariffs, according to their analysis.

The Harvard Business School study that the president cites in his Wall Street Journal op-ed found that U.S. consumers paid for roughly 43% of the tariff-induced border costs after seven months of Trump’s tariffs, “with the remainder absorbed mostly by U.S. firms.”

As for the idea that tariff revenue can offset or replace income taxes — even if a president imposed 50% tariffs on all imports — the income generated would represent less than 40% of income tax revenue, according to the Peterson Institute.

Historians who study U.S. trade note that tariffs have not been viewed as a primary way to raise revenue since income taxes were introduced in 1913. Income taxes generate over $2 trillion each year, according to the Treasury Department.

In 2024, tariff collections on imports represented just 1.7% of the more than $4.9 trillion in total federal revenue. And according to the Congressional Research Service, tariffs have not accounted for much more than 2% of federal revenue in the last 70 years.

By Aaron Navarro

Misleading: Trump claims new MFN agreements mean Americans, who’ve paid “highest prices of any nation” for prescriptions will now pay “the lowest price anywhere” 

“Under my just enacted Most Favored Nation agreements, Americans who have for decades paid by far the highest prices of any nation anywhere in the world for prescription drugs will now pay the lowest price anywhere in the world for drugs.”

Details: 

• It’s true that prescription drug prices in the U.S. tend to be much higher than in other countries. In 2024, the RAND Organization published its review of prescription drug data, which showed that through 2022, prescription drug prices in the U.S. were on average 2.8 times higher than in 33 other nations. Brand-name drugs averaged 4.22 times as much in the U.S.
• Mr. Trump did sign an executive order in May that threatened regulatory action against drug companies that failed to take steps to lower drug costs for Medicare or Medicaid recipients.
• But health policy experts say there are scant public details that lay out the full scope of Trump’s MFN agreements, including which drugs are included and how prices are determined. It’s also unclear how these deals would be extended to all Americans.

By Emma Li, Laura Doan

Partially true/Misleading: Trump claims price of eggs is down 60%, and the prices of chicken, butter, fruit, hotels, autos and rent are “lower today than when I took office by a lot”

“The price of eggs is down 60%. Madam Secretary, thank you. The cost of chicken, butter, fruit, hotels, automobiles, rent is lower today than when I took office by a lot.”

Details: 

• The president’s claiim about eggs is accurate — the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data from January shows average retail egg prices for shoppers are down about 59% from their peak in March 2025 of $6.23 per dozen.
• But Bureau of Labor Statistics data from March 2025 through January 2026 shows relatively flat changes in price for the other products and index items he mentioned:
• And while prices vary across products, Consumer Price Index data shows average cost of groceries in January increased by 0.2% from the previous month and by 2.4% from last year.

By Jui Sarwate

False: Trump claims SAVE AMERICA Act must be passed “to stop illegal aliens” from voting in U.S. elections because “the cheating is rampant in our elections”

“I’m asking you to approve the SAVE AMERICA Act to stop illegal aliens and others who are uncommitted persons from voting in our sacred American elections. The cheating is rampant in our elections. It’s rampant.”

Details: 

• Multiple studies have found that noncitizen voting in federal elections, which is illegal, is rare. 
• The conservative Heritage Foundation, which maintains a database of voter fraud cases brought by prosecutors, includes only 85 cases involving allegations of noncitizen voting over a two-decade period from 2002 to 2023, according to a Washington Post analysis. The nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice found only 30 cases of suspected noncitizens voting reported by election officials in 2016 among 23.5 million votes cast across 42 jurisdictions reviewed. 
• States have also conducted their own audits of voter roles. A 2024 audit in Georgia found that 20 noncitizens out of 8.2 million registered voters, according to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. An audit in Texas found 2,724 potential noncitizens among 18.6 million registered voters, the secretary of state’s office said. 
• Noncitizens who vote in federal elections risk deportation and prison time. While only some states require a photo ID, when registering to vote, individuals must attest under penalty of perjury that they are U.S. citizens, and provide a driver’s license number or the last four digits of their social security number. 

By Julia Ingram

Misleading: Trump claims Democrats’ refusal to vote to fund DHS means “nobody’s getting paid” 

“Tonight, I’m demanding the full and immediate restoration of all funding for the Border Security, Homeland Security of the United States and also for helping people clean up their snow. We have no money because of the Democrats, and it would be nice- love to give you a hand at cleaning it up, but you gave no money. Nobody’s getting paid.”

Details: 

During the partial government shutdown, some Department of Homeland Security personnel are paid even when annual appropriations lapse — because their pay comes from other budget authorities that are still valid (like fee revenue or previously enacted legislation).

For instance, Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and officers are expected to be paid because vast parts of their budgets are funded by prior legislation, not just the expired DHS annual appropriation. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed into law last year by Mr. Trump allocated an unprecedented $170 billion for immigration enforcement, with ICE alone getting $75 billion.

The other immigration agency at DHS, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which oversees legal immigration, is mostly funded by application fees, so its operations and workforce continue largely uninterrupted.

Most frontline “essential” DHS workers (including TSA agents, FEMA staff, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency employees, Secret Service agents, Coast Guard personnel whose funding has lapsed, etc.) are working but not receiving paychecks until the shutdown ends.

By Nicole Sganga, Camilo Montoya-Galvez