WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump praised mothers who have suffered the ultimate loss during a speech at the White House Rose Garden on Friday.
At a Mother’s Day lunch attended by “angel moms” whose children were killed by undocumented immigrants, Gold Star mothers who lost a son or daughter serving in the U.S. Armed Forces and mothers of children who died of fentanyl poisoning, Trump paid tribute to motherhood while celebrating many of his policy priorities.
“It is amazing, the weekend we celebrate Mother’s Day, honoring the women who raised us, and all of the wonderful mothers in our lives,” said Trump, who described his own mother as “wonderful.”
During a 20-minute speech, the president praised his immigration policy for dramatically decreasing crossings at the southern border, before asking individual “angel mothers” in the audience if it was true that time heals all wounds.
“That’s a joke,” responded Tammy Nobles, whose 20-year-old daughter was strangled to death by an MS-13 gang member in 2022, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Mary Ann Mendoza, an Arizona mom whose son was killed in a 2014 head-on collision with a driver who was in the U.S. illegally, also answered: “No.”
“All I can say is our hearts go out to you on Mother’s Day,” Trump said.
He then praised his administration’s work to reduce illegal drug trafficking and his signing last July of the Halt All Lethal Trafficking of Fentanyl Act that classified all fentanyl-related substances as Schedule I drugs, allowing law enforcement and customs officials to seize the substances and prosecute traffickers.
“I want to thank the brave moms fighting the epidemic of drug addiction here,” Trump said, before singling out two women who have become activists after their children died from fentanyl poisoning.
He also called out four Gold Star mothers whose children died while serving in the U.S. military, including three moms whose children died during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 when Joe Biden was president.
He concluded by reciting many of the Trump administration’s pro-family incentives, including recent deals with pharmaceutical companies to lower the cost of drugs, including for in vitro fertilization, and the 2025 tax cut and spending bill that increased the child tax credit to $2,200.
“America’s moms are the future of our country,” he said. “We don’t call it a job because when you love it, it’s not a job, but you have the most important job there is in America or anyplace else.”