Former President Donald Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, dodged multiple questions Saturday about whether Trump’s proposed “zero tolerance” immigration policy would lead to family separation.
First, Vance told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that Trump “needs to stop the bleeding” before imposing mass deportations.
“First you have to stop so many people coming here illegally, and that means canceling everything [Vice President] Kamala Harris practically did it on day one of the administration,” he said, adding: “Before we fix the problem, we have to stop the problem from getting worse.”
Asked again by moderator Kristen Welker whether the Trump administration’s plan would include family separations, Vance again dodged.
“I think families are being separated right now,” he said, adding that “certainly you’re going to have to deport some people in this country.”
He argued that mass deportations under Trump would “start with the most violent criminals in our country.”
“These people should be deported,” Vance said. “That’s where you focus federal resources.”
Vance continued to blast Harris again, falsely accusing him of supporting policies that lead to family separation and children living with criminals.
President Joe Biden and Harris when Biden first took office was cancelled The Trump-era zero-tolerance policy and a family reunification task force found More than 5000 families they left with politics.
Recently, the Biden administration worked with a bipartisan group of senators on Capitol Hill to develop a bipartisan comprehensive immigration and border security plan.
But the GOP support for the bill stopped After Trump expressed his disapproval of the plan.
Vance’s comments came days after Trump visited the US-Mexico border in Arizona on Saturday to campaign.
And while there, the former president Avoided by NBC News‘ questions Asked whether the proposed “zero-tolerance” policy at the border would lead to family separation, he said instead, “provisions will be made” for blended families, some of whom are American citizens and some of whom are undocumented.
Trump did not clarify what provisions will be implemented for those families.