Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) argued the United States’s root causes for illegal immigration stem from Vice President Kamala Harris refusing to fulfill her role as “border czar.”
The vice presidential candidate was asked on NBC’s Meet the Press about former President Donald Trump’s plan to address immigration, prompting Vance to say that the foundational issue with this topic stems from the United States having 25 million illegal immigrants in the country. This remark led host Kristen Welker to claim that the Department of Homeland Security says the number of illegal immigrants is around eight million, with Vance arguing the DHS is underestimating its number and millions have made their way illegally into the country since Harris became border czar.
When Welker interjected that Harris was put in charge of “the root causes of migration,” Vance responded by saying that these causes were from the vice president choosing not to “do her job.”
Vance continued by stating that if the U.S. is going to fix its immigration problem, the country needs to “stop the bleeding” by undoing everything Harris did “practically on Day 1.” Some of the steps the U.S. needs to take to prevent illegal immigration from becoming worse include reimposing deportations, deciding to not give asylum to anyone asking for it, and not giving “mass parole.”
“These policies are why we have the immigration crisis that we have, so I think focus on fixing the problem,” Vance said. “Before we even fix the problem, we’ve got to stop the problem from getting worse.”
Trump’s vice presidential candidate was pressed on whether the former president would separate families in addressing illegal immigration. Vance responded by saying he thinks some families are currently being separated and that the focus on deportation would be on “violent criminals” in the U.S.; he also argued there are children who are living with drug cartel members who are not their blood relatives, and that these children should be reunited with their families.
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On the topic of voting integrity, Vance stressed the need to make sure that legal ballots are counted in this election while keeping illegal ballots out of the final tally. When asked if the 2024 election will be free and fair, Vance said he does and that he feels “very good” about where the Trump campaign is right now in the 2024 race.
Earlier this week, Trump visited the southern border and listed more than a dozen incidents of children and women being sexually assaulted or killed by illegal immigrants. The former president was joined by families of two women who were allegedly raped and murdered by illegal immigrants.