Then-Republican Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance, now the VP, recently sat down with NBC News host Kristen Welker, who attempted to defend Vice President Kamala Harris’ record on the southern border, who President Joe Biden appointed to handle the issue early in their administration. Under Biden-Harris leadership, illegal immigration has skyrocketed, and millions have poured across the southern border into the American interior.
During his appearance on “Meet the Press,” Vance and Welker addressed the border crisis, which has become one of the most significant criticisms of Kamala Harris. “Well, we have to start with the foundational issue here, which is we have 25 million illegal aliens in this country right now because Kamala Harris has refused to do her job,” Vance said, beginning the discussion on the rampant influx of illegal immigrants.
Welker disputed the figure Vance cited, claiming, “I have, very quickly, DHS says it’s much lower, it’s closer to eight million. Where do you get the 25 million from?” Vance replied, “Well, I think the 25 million are the people that should’ve been deported that maybe weren’t deported, plus you add another 12 to 15 million that have come in since Kamala Harris. Look, whatever the number is —”
However, Welker cut in, “DHS disputes that number, for the record. They say it’s closer to eight to ten million, but please continue,” Vance, continuing to defend his position, suggested DHS could be vastly underestimating the scale of illegal immigration. “Fair, but I think there are reasons to think that DHS is underestimating. Whatever the number is, it’s way too high, right?” Vance said. “It’s millions upon millions of illegal immigrants that have come in just since Kamala became border czar a few years ago. The first thing —”
Welker interrupted again, “She was put in charge of the root causes of migration.” Vance fired back, continuing to slam Vice President Harris’ record on the border, “Well, the root cause of migration, I would say, Kristen, is that Kamala Harris refuses to do her job as Border Czar.”
Vance has continually been praised for how he handles himself in hostile media interviews, as he brilliantly navigates attacks from the left. The American Tribune recently reported on Vance’s appearance on CNN in which he torched a variety of Democrat-led attacks against him and the Trump campaign. Speaking to Jake Tapper, he said, “I think it’s an interesting contrast, Jake, between what President Trump and I are offering, which is very simple, we are advancing policies. They’re going to lower the cost of housing, lower the cost of food, secure the southern border, and raise wages for the middle class.”
He continued, “And Kamala Harris really can’t run on accomplishing that, because her policies have, in fact, caused a lot of the problems and a lot of the suffering that we see in our country. So what you see from the Democrats is instead this argument that if you want to vote for Donald Trump because you want to change the direction of this country, you’re somehow a bad person. And I really think that that dark message really doesn’t gel at all with the idea that somehow the Democrats are the joyful party. There’s a lot of attacks on Donald Trump, a lot of criticisms of what he’s done and what he’s said, not a whole lot of positive vision for how Kamala Harris is going to fix the problems that plague the country.”
Watch a clip from the interview with Welker below: