Vance leaves cat-and-dog claims behind as he battles Walz over immigration: NPR

Members of the US military patrol the banks of the Rio Grande, seen from Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua state, Mexico, on May 8, 2023.

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Henrika Martinez/AFP via Getty Images

In Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance shied away from untrue bombastic claims about immigrants eating people’s pets and instead addressed issues like the impact of immigrants on the wages of US-born workers.

“Make it harder for illegal aliens to undercut the wages of American workers,” he promised. “A lot of people will go home if they can’t work for less than minimum wage in our own country. And by the way, that’s going to be really good for our workers who just want to earn a fair wage for a good day’s work.”

Most labor economists disagree that immigrants depress the wages of native-born workers.

Vance carefully avoided questions about family separation, a policy that sparked controversy during former President Donald Trump’s administration. He falsely claimed that guns are being smuggled into the US across the Mexican border (in fact, they are inverse), and spoke of immigrants as responsible for the housing crisis — a complex problem that really conservative analysts we say that the current wave of migration pre-existed but was exacerbated by it.

Both candidates talked about fentanyl as being related to immigration, which remains a widespread myth: fentanyl is overwhelmingly brought into the US by people crossing legally through ports of entry. The street supply of fentanyl is, too and dries.

Video credit: CBS News Vice Presidential Debate.

For his part, Vice Presidential candidate Gov. Tim Walz reminded debate viewers of the bipartisan bill that would have strengthened border enforcement. It was killed on Trump’s orders, and Walz repeated the Democratic pledge that, if elected, Kamala Harris would sign it “on her first day in office.”

Video credit: CBS News Vice Presidential Debate.

Immigration is a top concern for voters and is seen as a weak spot for Democrats, who have flexed their muscles in response. On her recent trip to the Arizona border, Harris promised to “set rules on our border and enforce them, and I take that responsibility very seriously.”

Still, several times at Tuesday’s debate, Walz criticized the Republican campaign’s rhetoric on immigration. He criticized Vance for the way he spoke about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio.

“When it becomes a topic of discussion like this, we dehumanize and malign other human beings,” he said.

Vance did not repeat the false rumors he helped amplify earlier this month about Haitian immigrants eating dogs and cats.

“The people I’m most worried about in Springfield, Ohio are the American citizens,” Vance replied.