Vance Refused to Recognize Status of LEGAL Immigrants

Before his vice-presidential nomination, Vance rejected legal status of Springfield Haitians

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Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) delivering a July 10 speech in Washington, during which he rejected the legal status of some immigrants. (Screengrab / NatCon video.)

In a speech before becoming the Republican vice-presidential candidate, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) rejected the legal status of immigrants officially authorized to be in the country, lumping them in with “illegal immigrants.”

Vance was referring to Springfield, OH, specifically, but a federal refusal to recognize the legal status of documented immigrants could put millions of legal U.S. residents in dire jeopardy. Former Pres. Donald Trump on Friday promised “large deportations from Springfield” if he and Vance are elected, even though the recent Haitian influx there is predominantly documented immigrants.

Coverage of Trump’s remarks focused on the legal status of those Haitians, questioning whether Trump intended to deport only undocumented immigrants. But Vance’s remarks suggest a Trump/Vance administration might simply refuse to acknowledge any distinction between immigrants here legally and not.

And there’s no reason to believe Trump would limit his focus to Haitians. Most of his political career has been built on the idea that immigrants from Latin America pose a threat to the country.

Vance’s remarks about Springfield came on July 10, four days before he was named as Trump’s running mate. He was giving a speech at the National Conservatism Conference (NatCon) in Washington and his statement about legal immigration has not been previously reported.

Immigration issues have been at a boil nationally since last week. First Vance elevated — and Trump then amplified — false claims about immigrants in Springfield. The small city has since been inundated with threats to public facilities there for no apparent reason other than misplaced and unfounded hostility toward Haitian immigrants.

As I wrote yesterday, Springfield Mayor Rob Rue earlier this year said that the city — with federal and state agencies — is investigating whether the city was caught off guard by the influx because unidentified local companies didn’t disclose efforts to bring in immigrant workers.

Vance began speaking publicly about Springfield’s immigrant influx on July 9, a day after the city manager cc’ed him on a letter requesting federal aid. The letter sought not removal of the immigrants, but aid in serving and housing them.

Rue and other city officials said at a July 2 public meeting, and earlier, that “out-of-town” limited liability corporations, along with the “greed” of “opportunist landlords,” were partially to blame for housing shortages.

In the July 9 Senate hearing, Vance asked Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell about immigration, despite both men saying that the issue lay outside Powell’s purview.

Vance raised Springfield’s immigration issues again in his NatCon speech the following day. Previous reports have focused on Vance’s debunked claims about immigrant behavior. He also included a now-abandoned acknowledgment that “It’s possible, of course, that all of these rumors will turn out to be false.”

But in the course of passing on a claim that he said he had heard the day before, identifying no source, Vance explicitly lumped legal residents — with proper immigration documents — in with the “illegal immigrants” of Springfield’s home, Clark County. Vance said:

“I heard this yesterday: A third of the local county health budget is now tied up in giving free benefits to illegal immigrants. And, of course, the left will fact-check and say, ‘Well, they’re not illegal immigrants.’”

County officials did not immediately respond to my inquiry about health spending.

But Springfield officials have said they believe the Haitian influx is due to legal immigration, specifically under the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) that the Biden administration extended to asylum-seekers from a number of countries. Haiti not only suffers from chronic poverty dating back to punitive American policies in the 1800s, but has recently experienced violent turmoil, as its political systems and civic life have been upended by gangs.

Vance, however, clarified that he wasn’t claiming Springfield’s immigrants are there illegally. Vance said he rejected the legitimacy of their legal status because it was granted by the Biden administration:

“Through the abuse of asylum laws, and through [President] Joe Biden’s massive paroles, they’re now no longer technically illegal aliens, because according to Joe Biden nobody is an illegal alien.”

In fact, one month before Vance’s speech, Biden signed a controversial executive order imposing dramatic new conditions and limits on asylum-seekers.

“The only illegal people in this country are the people whose grandparents were born here, according to the Biden administration,” Vance said, apparently sardonically.

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I’m a veteran journalist and TV news producer who’s worked at MSNBC, CNN, ABCNews, The Daily Show, Air America Radio, and TYT. You can support my independent reporting with a paid subscription to my Substack or with a donation.