Trump Likely to Touch on Immigration and Refugee Matters in His First Address a Joint Meeting of Congress
Monday, February 27, 2017
 | President Donald J. Trump is scheduled this week to make his first address to a joint meeting of Congress. The Address is scheduled for Tuesday, February 28, 2017, in the House Chamber. The text of the Address was not available at the time of this writing. However, it is anticipated that the subjects of immigration and refugees feature prominently among the many other matters that he mentions during his Address. |
This week’s Address will come with all of the trappings of a State of the Union Address. It will be delivered in the evening and be broadcast live on all of the major news and entertainment networks. Present in the chamber will be members of both the House and Senate, the justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, the president’s cabinet, and the diplomatic corps. However, is tradition for the first address to Congress by a newly sworn-in president, this week’s Address is not being billed as a State of the Union Address.
President Obama’s First Address to Congress. While it, too, was not officially called a State of the Union Address, President Obama first addressed a joint meeting of Congress just one month after assuming office. In that address, delivered on February 24, 2009, Obama spoke to Congress and the nation about the state of the economy and the need for Congress to enact economic recovery legislation. He made no mention of or reference to immigration during that address.
Preview of Address. President Trump’s staff has indicated that his Tuesday address will not be dark and foreboding, terms that many observers have used to describe the new President’s January 20th Inaugural Address. Instead, they have said it will be an optimistic, forward-looking speech in which he outlines where he wants to take the country.
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer has said that the forthcoming Address will include remarks about "things like education and health care and infrastructure." However, he also said that the Address will include passages addressing "the problems that we face as a country — the violence in some of our inner cities — but also some of the solutions that we can act on and some of the partnerships that we can create."
President Trump has referenced immigration or refugees in virtually every speech he has given since he was sworn-in. And almost every reference or mention has been negative.
The president alluded to immigration and refugee affairs at least six times during his 16 minute-long Inaugural address, hitting on employment-based immigration and border security in most of them. Shortly after being sworn-in, the President signed three migration-related executive orders. The first of the three orders related to border security. The second related to interior immigration enforcement. And the third was his embattled refugee admissions/travel ban executive order. The President made extensive remarks about immigration as he signed each of those orders. And he has made numerous references to dangers he perceives from immigrants, refugees, and other non-citizen visitors in many remarks since as he has sought to defend the refugee admissions and travel ban executive order.
This week’s Address comes as the President is rumored to be ready to sign a new refugee admissions/travel ban executive order that the Administration has said will replace the embattled order from January 27th.
Unprecedented Democratic Response. Ever since the presidency of Richard M. Nixon, the major television networks have permitted the party out of power the opportunity to deliver a video response to presidents when they make prime time addresses to Congress.
This year, Democrats plan two responses: one in English and one in Spanish.
Democrats are anticipating the immigration-related remarks that President Trump will make in his address in three ways.
Preview of Address. President Trump’s staff has indicated that his Tuesday address will not be dark and foreboding, terms that many observers have used to describe the new President’s January 20th Inaugural Address. Instead, they have said it will be an optimistic, forward-looking speech in which he outlines where he wants to take the country.
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer has said that the forthcoming Address will include remarks about "things like education and health care and infrastructure." However, he also said that the Address will include passages addressing "the problems that we face as a country — the violence in some of our inner cities — but also some of the solutions that we can act on and some of the partnerships that we can create."
President Trump has referenced immigration or refugees in virtually every speech he has given since he was sworn-in. And almost every reference or mention has been negative.
The president alluded to immigration and refugee affairs at least six times during his 16 minute-long Inaugural address, hitting on employment-based immigration and border security in most of them. Shortly after being sworn-in, the President signed three migration-related executive orders. The first of the three orders related to border security. The second related to interior immigration enforcement. And the third was his embattled refugee admissions/travel ban executive order. The President made extensive remarks about immigration as he signed each of those orders. And he has made numerous references to dangers he perceives from immigrants, refugees, and other non-citizen visitors in many remarks since as he has sought to defend the refugee admissions and travel ban executive order.
This week’s Address comes as the President is rumored to be ready to sign a new refugee admissions/travel ban executive order that the Administration has said will replace the embattled order from January 27th.
Unprecedented Democratic Response. Ever since the presidency of Richard M. Nixon, the major television networks have permitted the party out of power the opportunity to deliver a video response to presidents when they make prime time addresses to Congress.
This year, Democrats plan two responses: one in English and one in Spanish.
Democrats are anticipating the immigration-related remarks that President Trump will make in his address in three ways.
- First, they are taking the unprecedented step of presenting an undocumented migrant living in the United States as one of two individuals who will deliver the official Democratic response. The speaker will be immigration activist Astrid Silva, a DREAMer who was brought to the United States without authorization when she was five years old. She will give the Democratic response to the Trump Address in Spanish.
- Second, they intend to invite several immigrants, nonimmigrants, and refugees to sit in the House gallery during the Address and make them available to the press both before and after the Address.
- Third, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) plan a “prebuttal” press conference, during which they are expected to make extensive comments critical of President Trump’s immigration and refugee policies.