President Donald Trump has said that the U.S. now has the most secure border in its history, noting that the country had the worst and most dangerous border on earth before he took office.

Mr Trump said this in his address to world leaders at the General Debate at the 81st session of the UN General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York.

“Two years ago, our country was dead, and now we have the hottest country anywhere in the world. Nobody comes in unless they’re invited. Unless they have permission. In the past 16 months, zero illegal aliens have been admitted to the United States. And that’s done by some very sophisticated people. It’s not done by the Trump administration,’’ he said.

As a result, Mr Trump said that in 2025, the country achieved the largest drop in violent crime ever recorded. He said the murder rate had plummeted to its lowest level in 125 years.

“Since the year 1900, I sent our crime busters into Memphis, Tennessee, and New Orleans, Louisiana, and crime in each place went down over 80 per cent and will go down still further. More importantly, when I arrived on January 20th of last year in Washington, D.C., it was riddled with crime.  And now crime is down 87 per cent, and we’re going for 100,’’ he said.

Mr Trump said restaurants were bustling, and people were proud of the U.S. nation’s capital.

“We’ve invested more money in the United States military in the past 12 months than ever before, and this term, it will be $1.5 trillion. We inherited a Dark Age of America from the previous administration, and we turned it into the golden age of America.

“The entire world is being lifted by the wealth, strength, spirit, and momentum of a newly energised and very powerful United States of America. And just as we moved quickly to address problems we inherited at home, we have acted with decisiveness and speed to reshape the world stage and solve problems that have plagued us for far too long,’’ he said.

Mr Trump used the address to welcome the world leaders to America as the U.S. celebrated 250 years of glorious freedom and independence. He said he could report with pride that America was back and that the country was stronger today than ever before two and a half centuries after the cause of liberty found its home on the continent.

He said the economy had become the envy of the world and the military the most powerful on earth.

“Our technology is second to none, and we are leading in virtually everything. Our energy is fueling the planet. America is rising. Our nation is growing. Our power is expanding. Our country is doing better than ever before, and our future is very, very bright.

“Since I took office, we have created more than one million new private sector jobs, and more Americans are working today by far than ever before,” he said.

Mr Trump said it was announced last week that the poverty rate had reached its lowest level in American history, noting that the country had lifted 1.5 million Americans out of poverty in 2025.

“Another record: the African American and Hispanic American poverty rates are at all-time lows. Real household incomes for Americans have soared to the highest level in history, $87,000 on average, surpassing the prior record that I set in my first term.

“From day one, my administration has worked to remove every single unnecessary regulation and obstacle to doing business in America. We passed the largest tax cuts in American history, and as a result, more money is being invested in the United States right now than has ever been invested in any nation, anywhere in the world,” Mr Trump explained.

According to the president, U.S. stock markets have set records in the last 12 months.

He said, “We’ve secured commitments for $21 trillion in new investments from all over the planet, compared to less than 1 trillion dollars in four years in the previous administration.”

(NAN)