By Catholics discussed the State of the Union address, particularly on issues related to the economy and immigration enforcement.
President Donald Trump focused on economic policy and immigration enforcement in his first State of the Union address of his second term, which sparked divided reactions from Catholic Republicans and Democrats.
Former Democratic Rep. Dan Lipinski and Alfonso Aguilar, America First Policy Institute director of Hispanic engagement, both of whom are Catholic, gave different views on the country’s economic outlook and the best way to approach immigration questions during an interview with “EWTN News Nightly” the day after the president’s Feb. 24 address.
“I think American people … are not seeing Donald Trump really accomplishing very much for them,” Lipinski said. “I mean, he’s a great showman.”
In the State of the Union, Trump boasted about the economic outlook, saying inflation has gone down, the prices of some foods have decreased, and the stock market has gone up. He took credit for signing tax cuts into law, more investments in the United States, and the stock market hitting record highs.
Lipinski said he believes “people are still struggling with affordability [and] inflation,” arguing that former President Joe Biden and Democratic lawmakers also “did a terrible job” on inflation, but that “it hasn’t changed,” and “I think people are still struggling economically.”
“I think for a lot of people, the showmanship has become stale for them because, what they are seeing, what they’re feeling in the country right now, they’re not happy with,” he said.
As of January 2026, the inflation rate stood at 2.6%, which is slightly lower than January 2025, when the inflation rate was 3%. Under Biden, inflation peaked at 9.1% in June 2022, but went down significantly before the end of his presidency.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, groceries increased by 2.1% from January 2025 to January 2026. Some grocery items, such as eggs, have gone down, as noted by Trump in his speech. Some other costs, such as gasoline, have also gone down. Real wages increased by 1.2% in that time frame.
Aguilar said “some people may not be feeling those dropped prices, but [Trump] did say that we’re going to see an economic boom,” and argued that Trump performed “very well in [his address] … stressing how the economy is really changing and we’re entering a golden era.”
“People are going to start feeling [the economic changes],” Aguilar said. “When that happens, then the entire dynamic changes and public opinion will change.”
Trump’s immigration policy
The president also spoke at length about his mass deportation efforts and highlighted instances in which immigrants who entered the country illegally committed serious crimes. He also spoke about Somali immigrants and ongoing federal fraud investigations in Minnesota, which the president alleged was primarily orchestrated by that community.
Lipinski gave credit to Trump for “what he’s done at the border” and called Biden’s border policy tragic, saying he “essentially announced that the border is open.” Yet, the former congressman took issue with the broader mass deportation efforts and rhetoric about immigration.
Although Lipinski said he is glad Trump affirmed the country “will always allow people to come in legally,” the former congressman said “that has not been the message that has continually come out from him or from the administration.”
He said the president’s rhetoric has suggested “all immigrants are bad” and “all immigrants are criminals.” He said Congress needs to address immigration in a bipartisan manner, which does not include deportations of everyone who entered the country illegally, adding that “some are criminals; some are not.”
“This idea that somehow all of our problems are caused by illegal immigrants is really not, once again, addressing the problem,” Lipinski said. “It’s just demonizing people.”
Alternatively, Aguilar argued that in the 2024 election “immigration was the No. 1 issue — not only about controlling the border but also removing criminals.”
“That’s what the administration is doing,” he said. “Again, he’s putting the house in order. The immigration dynamic has changed completely after four years of open borders. You have many — not a small number of people — who entered the country [who] had ties to drug cartels, to criminal organizations, [or] even were on terrorist watchlist.”
Scholars at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, found that “237 foreign-born terrorists were responsible for 3,046 murders on U.S. soil from 1975 through the end of 2024.” In that time frame, tens of millions of immigrants have entered the United States. FBI stats in December 2025 show participation in operations targeting about 3,000 people associated with criminal networks who are eligible for deportation or removal.
Aguilar said “we have to end sanctuary cities,” which was one of the priorities Trump laid out in his address. He blamed local officials’ refusal to cooperate with immigration enforcement for the deaths of two people killed by federal immigration agents at protests. Minnesota local law enforcement interacts with federal officials in limited ways through jail intake procedures or sheriffs’ cooperation agreements in certain counties.
“The local government, the governor, and the mayor there created the circumstances by not allowing the local police to do its job,” he said. “They have to support federal enforcement. They have to do the policing work. If they don’t, [immigration enforcement is] still going to do its job. They’re going to go in without the police. Plus, you had all these leftist activists going in to agitate, to provoke, creating the circumstances for what happened.”
Aguilar also argued that immigration policy is an affordability issue because cities “already have limited resources [and] limited housing.”
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A famous TV Judge used to say ” don’t pee on my foot and tell me it’s raining”. Lipinsky could learn something from the judge. Nobody with a brain believes the lies that Democrats told for four years—-that the border could not be controlled until the immigration laws were “reformed”. That was DEM code-speak for saying until the laws essentially gave them everything they wanted and a LEGAL way to overwhelm the nation with more immigrants than we could absorb or Americanize.
My husband was killed on 9/11 by foreigners who had overstayed their visas. Essentially, by illegals. Once their visas expired, nobody in US govt authority came to find them before they did their murderous deed. Yet there are Dems, maybe some Catholic Dems who support this policy. How stupid do you have to be before you understand that the next victim of such open door policies can result in the death of someone YOU love??
Too many Catholics have taken the position that to enforce the law makes you a racist, a hard hearted person or a bigot. Jesus never said that to defy authorities was OK. They have forgotten that Jesus not only said to render to caesar, He directed his disciples to find the fish with a coin in its mouth and use it to pay a required tax. Its not ok to attack law enforcement (or like today, throw snowballs and ice at NY Police). Lipinsky and others of his ilk need to wake up and stop spinning lies. I have never heard Trump say that “all immigrants are bad” nor “all immigrants are criminals”. Then Lipinsky contradicts himself when he says he is glad Trump affirmed that the country will always allow immigrants to come in LEGALLY. So, which is it? It feels like Lipinsky, like all Dems, is talking out of both sides of his mouth. No doubt he hopes to capture the vote of those too propagandized to understand that they are being fed lie after lie by democrats.
Hopefully, the full and disgusting display of democrat’s refusal to stand for a variety of American Heroes and American victims during the State of the Union showed the world their true colors. Maybe it woke up some of their somnambulant and ill-informed voters. Bravo to Trump for standing for America and Americans first.
And, Catholics who vote democrat should be skeptical when their leaders tell them its raining out.
Regarding the economy, the stock market is doing fine, but affordability is still a problem, especially with housing and food. To be fair, much of this was inherited from the previous Administration. That said, Trump has been in office for over a year with a Republican Congress, so people expect some progress.
Right, they told people and students to stay home. Then they loosened the regulatory purse strings and created money in droves. Ms. Janet claimed inflation was transitory.
The incoherence of competing optics…
On both sides of the aisle, we can do a better job in bridging between analogue realities (faces) and a digitized universe (hard numbers and fluid decimal points) ….Politicians and media talking heads, both, are overwhelmed and routine failures. Also the public who have voice mere impressions more than actual “public opinions”.
One example, no one has flagged Trump’s repeated claim that 24,000 are dying each month (!) in the Ukraine War–a tenfold (!) exaggeration…surely an annual figure over each of the past four years. But, yes, only a detail…
Not much attention, at all, to the bipartisan national budget and its decade-after-decade suicidal pandering to myriad client special interests. Ka-ching, ka-ching! With a national indebtedness of 37 Trillion dollars (no longer even mentioned!), who in the budget-setting Congress or Executive Branch, or the public, even dares remember the wit of Illinois’ Senator Everett Dirkson in the 1960s: “a billion dollars here, a billion there, and pretty soon we’re talking real money!”
The compact and unraveling world totters over the edge of war and systemic financial collapse (currency devaluation camouflaged as “inflation”?) and we continue to micro-debate the domestic Consumer Culture, “affordability,” and the price of eggs.
The optics of half the Congress standing, and the other half either boycotting or sitting on their hands or whatever.
Former representative Lipinski was always listed as a pro-life democrat representative, which I considered something of an oxymoron, similar to a pro integration member of the KKK. A firm criteria for being a democrat official on the national stage was to be pro-abortion. Lipinski found that out when his own party primaried him out.
He still seems to be in the democrat mode when he criticizes Trump’s “showmanship” rather than addressing his accomplishments.
I am far from being an economist, but the way that Biden’s and Trump’s inflation numbers are presented is misleading.
Biden’s numbers are presented as coming down from a high of 9.1% in 2022 to 3% in January 2025, as though the 9% had come down. No. The 3% was on top of the 9%.
I hope every reader returns to a safe HOME, HOUSE, MANSION, not a lean-to. My Black school buddy, Joe Jackson, has been relegated to the lowest version of a home.
I watched as Trump the showman, plying his trade of lying profusely, and straining to insult “the other side.” That display seals his dark character as a divider, not a uniter. He covered many “accomplishments,” including the financial benefits to small businesses and citizens. His unilateral and illegal actions were struck down by SCOTUS. Another important absence was his unending false lamenting of his 2020 election loss, sending of the FBA to raid and cease the election ballots in Fulton County, Georgia.
Trump did say that we’re going to see an economic boom,” and argued that he performed “very well in [his address] … stressing how the economy is really changing and “we’re entering a GOLDEN ERA.” Golden era? Some say Trump has a “heart of gold.” Maybe. The Oval Office is plastered with 24-carat gold leaf. And, on the Resolute Desk, there is a two-pound, solid gold paperweight. Flaunting precious metal as many if his constituants are barely able to put food on the kitchen table, if there is one! Politics or reality? FOOD for thought…
Immigration is on the minds of most, with millions of Americans protesting ICE in their state. I agree with the ICE intent of mass deportation, but it’s the harsh tactics that include deaths and illegal retention that are criminal. And, building or occupying 90-plus detention prisons would imply that tactics are out of control.
Epstein: Trump spent nearly two hours on the PSOFU and never mentioned or acknowledged the 16 Epstein victims in the gallery. He praised a hockey team instead. There might have been 17, but Virginia Guthrie committed suicide.
Some argue we are not in a constitutional crisis. There is significant evidence with the shifting of powers to the Executive branch, an autocracy may follow.
Pray for the Union.