United States President Donald Trump has pledged to enforce stricter immigration policies, including the deportation of millions of “criminal aliens” who enter the country illegally. Trump made this declaration during his inaugural address on Monday after being sworn in as the 47th president, succeeding Joe Biden.
“All illegal entries will immediately be halted, and we will begin the process of returning millions of millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came,” Trump announced in his speech, delivered before an audience that included four former presidents, among them his predecessor, Joe Biden.
The president further stated, “We will reinstate my ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy,” while also making a symbolic gesture by proposing to “rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.”
Sworn in alongside his vice president, 40-year-old JD Vance, Trump promised to uphold America’s religious values, stating, “America will not forget our God.” He also vowed to “bring free speech back to America.”
At 78 years old, Trump enters his second term in office with a vastly different backdrop compared to his first inauguration in 2017, when he was considered a political outsider. This time, he is accompanied by some of the nation’s most influential figures, including Elon Musk, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, who occupied prime seats in the Capitol alongside Trump’s family and cabinet members.
In a departure from his actions following the 2020 election, when Trump declined to attend Biden’s inauguration citing unfounded claims of electoral fraud, Biden took steps to restore a sense of tradition.
The event was attended by former presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton, along with former first ladies Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush. However, former First Lady Michelle Obama notably abstained from attending.
Full speech loading…
