Vice President JD Vance sparred with CBS anchor Margaret Brennan on unvetted illegal immigrants and refugees during a “Face the Nation” interview Sunday.
Brennan asked Vance for his thoughts on President Donald Trump, through executive order, putting a pause on refugee resettlement operations while demanding enhanced vetting for visa applications.
She specifically asked whether he stood by his past comments that the U.S. should not “abandon anybody who’s been properly vetted.”
“Well, Margaret, I don’t agree that all these immigrants, or all these refugees have been properly vetted,” Vance said. “In fact, we know that there are cases of people who allegedly were properly vetted and then were literally planning terrorist attacks in our country. That happened during the campaign, if you may remember. So, clearly, not all of these foreign nationals have been properly vetted.”
Refugee resettlement efforts have been temporarily paused in line with an executive order from President Donald Trump. (Reuters)
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Brennan pressed Vance on whether he stands by his comments while tens of thousands of Afghan refugees’ resettlement processes remain in limbo due to the executive order.
Vance responded, “My primary concern as the vice president, Margaret, is to look after the American people…”
“So, no,” Brennan said.
“…And now that we know that we have vetting problems with a lot of these refugee programs, we absolutely cannot unleash thousands of unvetted people into our country. It’s not good,” Vance continued.
“These people are vetted. These people are vetted,” Brennan insisted.
Vance referenced a recent example of an Afghan national in Oklahoma who was accused of planning a terrorist attack in October. He originally came to the country in Sept. 2021 after the United States withdrawal from Afghanistan and went through multiple vetting processes.
Thousands of refugees’ status in the U.S. has been put into question following the executive order. (REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach)
“I don’t want my children to share a neighborhood with people who are not properly vetted. And because I don’t want it for my kids, I’m not going to force any other American citizens’ kids to do that either,” Vance said.
“No. And that was a very particular case,” Brennan said. “It wasn’t clear if he was radicalized when he got here or while he was living here, but…”
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“I don’t really care, Margaret,” Vance replied. “I don’t want that person in my country, and I think most Americans agree with me.”
Vance also defended Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants as Brennan argued “this is a country founded by immigrants.”
Vice President JD Vance clashed with CBS’ Margaret Brennan on several topics. (CBS screenshot)
“This is a very unique country, and it was founded by some immigrants and some settlers,” Vance said. “But just because we were founded by immigrants doesn’t mean that, 240 years later, that we have to have the dumbest immigration policy in the world. No country says that temporary visitors, their children will be given complete access to the benefits and blessings of American citizenship.”
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