The 2024 Republican vice-presidential nominee J.D. Vance sparred with NBC host Kristen Welker over immigration policy Sunday on “Meet the Press.”
Trump promised in February that he will set up the largest deportation operation in U.S. history following the murder of 22-year-old Laken Riley by an illegal migrant. Welker introduced the topic by asking Vance if a second Trump administration would separate families with mixed immigration status, promoting an argument about the number of illegal migrants let into the U.S. under Vice President Kamala Harris as border czar.
“I think there are reasons to think DHS is underestimating. Whatever the real number is, it’s way too high, right? It’s millions upon millions of illegal immigrants that come in just since Kamala Harris has become the border czar a few years ago,” Vance said.
“She was put in charge of the root causes of migration,” Welker responded.
“Well, the root causes of migration I would say, Kristen, are that Kamala Harris refuses to do her job as border czar. Let’s start there,” Vance shot back.
Sen. @JDVance just wrecked Kamala Harris for her failure as Border Czar after NBC tried running cover for her🔥
NBC: “She was put in charge of the root causes of migration.”
JD: “Well, the root causes of migration…is that Kamala Harris refuses to do her job as Border Czar.” pic.twitter.com/rVL1W0pz5A
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) August 25, 2024
Vance told Welker “you have to stop the bleeding” in order to address the influx of migrants illegally entering the U.S. at the southern border.
“You have to stop so many people from coming here illegally in the first place, and that means undoing everything that Kamala Harris did practically on day one of the administration,” Vance said.
President Joe Biden put Harris in charge of the border crisis on March 24, 2021, according to the Associated Press. Harris was at the helm of illegal immigration two months after Biden took office for 95 percent of his presidency. (RELATED: CNN Panelist Says He Identified ‘Glaring Hole’ In Harris-Walz Campaign)
“You have to reimpose deportations. You have to stop catch and release. Stop granting asylum to every single person who comes in here and says that they need asylum. And stop granting mass parole,” Vance continued. “These policies are why we have the immigration crisis that we have.”
“Before we even fix the problem, we got to stop the problem from getting worse,” Vance said.