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Four Key Immigration Qs Before Tuesday’s VP Debate

by AV Press Releases on

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Washington, DC — Immigration will undoubtedly be a component of tonight’s vice presidential debate between JD Vance and Tim Walz. Below are four key questions followed by related context and resources.

  1. What are the specific details of the Trump/Vance plan for the “bloody” and unsparing mass deportation of millions, including those with current legal status? 
  2. Will Vance continue to elevate lies about Haitians to stoke division on race and immigration?
  3. Will Vance repeat the Big Lie 2.0 – the GOP’s baseless white nationalist conspiracy theory about noncitizen voting, which is being used to undermine trust in our elections, disenfranchise citizens and court political violence?
  4. Will Walz continue the Democratic ticket’s recent embrace of both parts of a “both/and” message? Going beyond the border focus to also connect with the majority of Americans who support legal immigration and a path to citizenship?

Question 1: What are the specific details of the Trump/Vance plan for the “bloody” and unsparing mass deportation of millions, including those with current legal status?

  • The Trump and Vance pledge for mass deportations – involving mass roundups, mass detention, and a mass purge of both long-settled immigrants and recent arrivals – is the single most consequential immigration and economic issue of the 2024 campaign. 
  • They’ve made clear this proposed “largest deportation operation in the history of our country” would be unsparing and indiscriminate in targeting immigrants, noting, “no one is off the table” and that those targeted would include, “a woman with two children, three children.” Trump, meanwhile, has pledged that “getting them out will be a bloody story.”
  • Of note, the Republican ticket has recently been promising to make as many immigrants as possible deportable, no matter their current legal status or whether they have deep roots in this nation – from Haitians with TPS to Dreamers with DACA to spouses of U.S. citizens eligible for the Keeping Families Together (Parole in Place) process. They even have been advancing the chilling concept of “denaturalization” and “remigration.” 
  • This mass deportation plan would not only terrorize immigrant families, but would come at a catastrophic cost to the U.S. economy and native-born workers – see this excellent Boston Globe op-ed from leading expert Michael Ettlinger, “Trump’s plan to vaporize the economy” as one of many examples about the economic toll of mass deportation on America.
  • At both presidential debates, Trump refused to answer moderator questions about mass deportation and pivoted to tell lies about immigrants. Vance and Trump need to answer the question and the American people deserve to hear specifics about their signature mass deportation plan and its costs and consequences for all Americans.
  • Bottom Line: Any analysis of the Trump/Vance economic policies that fail to take stock of the economic devastation proposed through mass deportation is incomplete and any pro-family statements Vance makes ought to include a discussion of the family impact of mass deportation – on all American families, not just immigrants.

Question 2: Will Vance continue to elevate lies about Haitians to stoke division on race and immigration?

  • JD Vance led the charge for the Trump campaign’s recent vile and dehumanizing lies about Haitians in Springfield, OH – despite knowing they were false, despite vocal pushback from his fellow Ohio Republicans and despite the bomb threats and school closures and intimidation that resulted, targeting the Haitian community and even “lifelong Republican” business owners who spoke positively about Haitian workers.
  • As reported, Vance continued to advance these lies about his own constituents even after knowing they were false. As Vance told CNN’s Dana Bash – out loud and on television – “If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention…then that’s what I’m going to do, Dana.”
  • Bottom Line: The Trump/Vance vile strategy to keep the focus on race and immigration is designed to distract attention away from their role in ending Roe, imperiling Americans’ healthcare protections and other extreme Republican policy positions. But it’s also a reflection of the candidate and the campaigns’ character and one Vance should have to answer for – the nation is better than his transparent attempts to divide us and stoke fears over race and immigration.

Question 3: Will Vance vocalize the Big Lie 2.0 – the GOP’s baseless white nationalist conspiracy theory about noncitizen voting, which is being used to undermine trust in our elections, disenfranchise citizens  and court political violence?

  • Why are Republicans and right-wing allies relentlessly focusing on the nearly non-existent threat of noncitizens voting? It’s part of a broader campaign designed to undermine American democracy, making immigrants out to be the villains to justify voter suppression targeted against eligible U.S. citizens and to undermine trust in our elections.  
  • Relying on the white nationalist replacement theory, this Big Lie 2.0 is being used to justify purges of some eligible U.S. voters, intimidate those trying to help people register, create new bureaucratic and financial barriers to voting and lay the groundwork for contesting the results if the Republicans don’t win. 

Question 4: Will Walz continue the Democratic ticket’s recent embrace of both parts of a “both/and” message? Going beyond the border focus to also connect with the majority of Americans who support legal immigration and a path to citizenship?

  • Both VP Harris and Gov. Tim Walz have been defining themselves as seeking reforms to our broken immigration system and supporting policies that pair an orderly border with legal pathways and opportunities for long-settled immigrants. 
  • While the border/asylum focus has been garnering most of the attention (and includes some restrictive measures we don’t support) the strategy modeled by Harris/Walz also involves support for vitally-needed legal channels and citizenship pathways for long-established immigrants who already live and work here. See the recent speeches from VP Harris in Arizona and Las Vegas for examples (and read the AV take here).
  • Democrats also have coalesced around a strategy of defining contrasts with Trump and Republicans and calling out their preference for immigration politics over solutions – this includes a consistent focus on Trump’s cynical obstruction of the bipartisan, enforcement-heavy Senate bill.
  • The VP debate is an opportunity for Walz to connect with the fuller views of Americans on immigration and the border (strong majority support for both an orderly and secure border and legal immigration/citizenship for long-settled immigrants) and draw sharp contrasts with the Trump/Vance unpopular and extremist ideas – from unsparing mass deportations and the proposed separation of families to ending DACA and making Dreamers eligible for deportation – and their relentless barrage of anti-immigrant lies and attempts to divide Americans over race and immigration.
  • Bottom Line: Vice President Harris and Gov. Walz have increasingly gone on offense on immigration and border issues, making Republicans defend why they scuttled border-centric legislation to advance their partisan goals. They also should continue to connect with a broad majority of Americans by supporting both a secure border and expanding legal pathways for migration and legal status for long-settled immigrants and their families, while leaning into the extremism, lies and costs/consequences of the Trump/Vance immigration vision.

Additional Resources