Immigration hardliners largely welcomed former President Donald Trump’s choice of Ohio GOP Sen. J.D. Vance as his running mate, praising his work in the Senate on a slate of border issues.
Trump announced Vance as his vice presidential running mate on Monday during the first day of the Republican National Committee convention, putting to rest months of speculation as to who the Republican presidential hopeful would choose. While the junior senator from Ohio checks a lot of boxes on conservative issues, advocates for tighter border security were particularly happy with the selection. (RELATED: Migrants Are Slamming US Ports Of Entry In Near-Record Numbers)
“President Trump projects several strong messages in picking Senator J.D. Vance for his vice-presidential running mate, including that stopping illegal immigration and reforming legal immigration are key to the nation’s future prosperity,” James Massa, CEO of NumbersUSA, said in a statement provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Senator Vance has emerged as a leading voice in the Senate in favor of genuine immigration reform.”
“Senator Vance understands that immigration policy must no longer be determined by special interests in Washington, D.C. or big business seeking cheap labor at the expense of American workers, but instead designed in the interest of the American people at large,” Massa continued.
Central American immigrant get on the so-called La Bestia (The Beast) cargo train, in an attempt to reach the Mexico-US border, in Arriaga, Chiapas state, Mexico on July 16, 2014. AFP PHOTO/ELIZABETH RUIZ (Photo by ELIZABETH RUIZ/AFP via Getty Images)
Vance’s currently boasts an “A” rating from NumbersUSA, with the group noting his support for “effective” border security and interior enforcement, and his support for asylum and parole reform.
During his time in the Senate, Vance was a co-sponsor of S.2824, otherwise known as the Secure Border Act bill, which aimed to reduce asylum fraud by strengthening credible fear interviews, ensuring only those with legitimate claims to asylum are allowed to proceed and turn away those looking to take advantage of U.S. asylum laws, among other provisions. Vance also voted against the Senate border deal, which passed the upper chamber, but went nowhere in the GOP-controlled House.
In a statement to the DCNF, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) praised Vance for voting in favor of a resolution that would’ve overturned the Biden White House’s public charge regulation and for supporting a full trial in the Senate to debate articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The Ohio senator also introduced the WIRED Act, legislation that would impose a 10% fee on remittance transfers.
FAIR also touted Vance’s introduction of the No Obamacare For Illegal Aliens Act, which would ensure DACA beneficiaries would not be provided taxpayer-subsisted healthcare insurance through the Affordable Health Care Exchange — Biden issued an executive order earlier this year that allows DACA recipients to enroll in Obamacare.
Other immigration hawks contrasted Vance to Vice President Kamala Harris, who was appointed as “border czar” in the Biden administration and has since overseen an ongoing border crisis in the past several years.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump and Republican candidate for U.S. Senate JD Vance greet supporters during the rally at the Dayton International Airport on November 7, 2022 in Vandalia, Ohio. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
“JD Vance is strong on Immigration issues and would be a significant upgrade on that front compared to our current Vice President and ‘Border Czar,’ John Fabbricatore, a retired Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office director, said to the DCNF. “I believe President Trump made this pick knowing he wanted to have a Vice President he could hand the border off to and ask for successful results.”
There have been more than seven million illegal migrant crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border President Joe Biden entered office, according to the latest data from Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The sky-high migrant numbers followed the Biden administration’s unwinding of numerous Trump-era border enforcement policies, such as the construction of a border wall and the Remain in Mexico program.
The border crisis that followed resulted in several major U.S. cities facing dire financial straits over the sheer volume of asylum seekers needing food, clothing and housing within their jurisdictions. The issue of immigration has since become a top concern among American voters and a liability for Biden as he seeks re-election, according to the latest surveys.
In contrast to the current administration, border hawks are hopeful that a possible Vice President Vance would lead to a real end to the immigration crisis.
“If the American people elect Senator Vance as their next Vice President, we hope to develop a strong partnership with him so that we, as Americans, can secure our borders and implement immigration policies that prioritize the national interest, not special interests,” Julie Kirchner, FAIR’s executive director, said in a statement to the DCNF.
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