Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance took issue with one of Tuesday night’s debate moderators correcting his assertion that Haitian migrants are in the country illegally — to the point where the moderators cut off his microphone and that of Democratic nominee Tim Walz.
In a segment of the CBS News debate on immigration, Walz referenced Donald Trump’s false claim that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio were eating dogs and cats. Walz also alluded to Vance’s appearance on CNN last month when the Ohio senator suggested he knew the claim was false: “If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do.”
While Walz, the governor of Minnesota, is “very worried about the things I said about Springfield,” Vance said he was more concerned about the “American citizens who had their lives destroyed by Kamala Harris’ open border.
“Look, in Springfield, Ohio and in communities across this country, you’ve got schools that are overwhelmed, you’ve got hospitals that are overwhelmed, you have got housing that is totally unaffordable because we brought in millions of illegal immigrants to compete with Americans for scarce homes,” Vance said. “The people that I’m most worried about in Springfield, Ohio are the Americans citizens who had their lives destroyed by Kamala Harris’ open border…”
Moderator Margaret Brennan then interjected to correct Vance.
“Just to clarify for our viewers: Springfield, Ohio does have a large number of Haitian migrants who have legal status, temporary protected status,” Brennan said.
Vance disputed Brennan’s fact check, describing the U.S. Customs and Border Protection phone app that migrants can use.
“You can go on as an illegal migrant and apply for asylum or apply for parole and be granted legal status at the wave of a Kamala Harris open border wand,” he said. “That is not a person coming in and applying for a green card, waiting for 10 years.”
Brennan suggested Vance’s characterization actually proved her point that the migrants are legally in the country.
“Thank you, senator,” she said, “for describing the legal process.”