Catholics react to economic, immigration comments in Trump’s State of the Union

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.”