In what might have been one of Senator and 2024 Trump running mate JD Vance’s funniest scorcher of an interview, he appeared on NBC and clashed with NBC host Kristen Welker about Kamala’s border policies, joking that what might be the “root cause” of mass migration into America is that Kamala Harris has done a lackluster job of addressing the “root causes” of migration. The interview occurred in late August of 2024.
Welker, introducing the subject, said, “Another big topic in this race is immigration. There has been a lot of discussion about Donald Trump’s plans for mass deportation. According to one estimate, more than 11 million U.S. citizens live in households with mixed immigration status, including more than five million children. If you and former President Trump were elected, would you separate families as a part of your mass deportation effort?”
Firing back, Sen. Vance went after VP Harris from the start, saying that the migrants are here, in his view, as a result of VP Harrs having “refused to do her job.” He said, “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.”
Welker then tried to dispute his numbers, saying, “I have, very quickly, DHS says it’s much lower, it’s closer to eight million. Where do you get the 25 million from?” He said, “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 –”
She then interrupted him, saying, “DHS disputes that number, for the record. They say it’s closer to eight to ten million, but please continue.” He fired back, “Fair, but I think there are reasons to think that DHS is underestimating. Whatever the real number is, it’s way too high, right? It’s millions upon millions of illegal immigrants that have come in just since Kamala Harris became the border czar a few years ago. The first thing –” Interrupting him again, Welker said, “She was put in charge of the root causes of migration. Go ahead.”
That’s when Sen. Vance torched Kamala yet better, joking that the root cause of migration is VP Harris not doing her job. He said, “Well, the root causes of migration, I would say, Kristen, is that Kamala Harris refuses to do her job as border czar. And let’s just start there. I want to answer your question, but I think it’s important to sort of sequence this the right way.”
Continuing, he spoke more seriously on the subject, telling Welker, “So if you want to get control of the illegal immigration problem, you have to stop the bleeding. 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.”
He added, commenting on what else must be done, “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. These policies are why we have the immigration crisis that we have. So I think focus on fixing the problem. Before we even fix the problem we have to stop the problem from getting worse.”
Watch him here:
One commenter on X, describing Vance’s utter toasting of Kamala as regards the migration crisis, said, “Also, Senator JD Vance turned what was supposed to be a routine appearance into a comedic roast of Kamala Harris on NBC, calling out Kamala’s tenure as Border Czar, suggesting that her inactivity might be the ‘root cause’ of illegal immigration.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video
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