MONROEVILLE, Pa. — Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance promised a compassionate US border approach should he be elected in November with former President Trump at the top of the ticket.
“The Trump-Vance approach to the border is the way to maximize compassion, not just for our citizens, but for everybody,” the Ohio senator, 40, told a Christian forum outside Pittsburgh Saturday.
“Border policy is compassionate, and I think that Republicans have to remind people that.”
Vance faced questions from the audience about what the Christian approach to the migrant crisis should be — and leaned into the issue of protecting children.
“Right now in the United States, we have about 320,000 children that we have lost track of. Now, these are children, many of whom have been trafficked by drug traffickers, or, God forbid, even sex traffickers,” he said.
“The Democrats, meaning Kamala Harris, wants to tell you that the compassionate thing is to have a wide-open border. I think those 320,000 missing children would beg to differ. The compassionate thing is to control our border, find those children and punish the criminals mistreating them,” Vance continued.
“We should not let Kamala Harris claim the high ground on compassion when her policies have led to 320,000 missing children in the United States of America. It’s a disgrace and there’s nothing compassionate about it,” the senator added to applause.
Three women huddled in agreement after Vance left the Monroeville Convention Center.
“It’s not compassionate to bring these children into the country and lose track of them,” one devout Christian from Pittsburgh who gave her name as Diane S., told The Post. “It’s gross incompetence, and it’s criminal.”
“I have friends who say it’s compassionate to let them in,” said Laura Smith, a minister from Monroeville. “What about the compassion for our own?”
In addition to a border crackdown, Trump and Vance have promised to deport as many as 20 million illegal immigrants already living in the United States. The Department of Homeland Security estimates the number is closer to 11 million.
Vance told ABC last month that the plan would scale up and that initially they would “start with 1 million.”
His Saturday remarks came one day after border “czar” Harris, 59, claimed its security has been a “longstanding priority” as she proposed immigration tweaks and “pathways to citizenship” during a hastily arranged visit to the border wall in Cochise County, Ariz.
