Vance, Walz spar on immigration during VP debate: Been to the border 'more than our border czar'

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JD Vance: We have a historic immigration crisis

Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, discusses responding to the crisis at the southern border during the CBS News Vice Presidential Debate. (Courtesy: CBS News)

Vice presidential candidates JD Vance and Tim Walz sparred on the issue of immigration in their debate Tuesday night, and Vance called out the immigration policies of VP Kamala Harris. 

"First of all, the gross majority of what we need to do to the southern border is just empowering law enforcement to do their job," Vance said during the Tuesday night debate on CBS during a discussion on the Haitian migrant surge in Springfield and immigration overall. 

"I've been to the southern border more than our ‘border czar’ Kamala Harris has been. And it's actually heartbreaking because the Border Patrol agents, they just want to be empowered to do their job."

Vance continued by saying that, "of course, additional resources would help," but that the issue is mostly about the Biden administration not empowering law enforcement to say "if you try to come across the border illegally, you've got to stay in Mexico" and "go back through proper channels."

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JD Vance and Tim Walz squared off in their first and only debate Tuesday night. (Getty Images)

"Now, Gov. Walz brought up the community of Springfield, and he's very worried about the things that I've said in Springfield," Vance said. "Look, in Springfield, Ohio, and in communities all across this country, you've got schools that are overwhelmed. You've got hospitals that are overwhelmed. You've got housing that is totally unaffordable because we brought in millions of illegal immigrants to compete with Americans for scarce homes.

"The people that I'm most worried about in Springfield, Ohio, are the American citizens who have had their lives destroyed by Kamala Harris' open border. It is a disgrace, Tim, and I actually think I agree with you. I think you want to solve this problem, but I don't think that Kamala Harris does."

Walz repeatedly made the case that Trump shut down the Senate immigration bill earlier this year that VP Harris has said she will sign in a move he believes would have made strides at the border.

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Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, speaks with U.S. Sen. JD Vance, the Republican vice presidential candidate, during the vice presidential debate hosted by CBS News at the CBS Broadcast Center in New York City Oct. 1, 2024. (Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images)

"It is law enforcement that asked for the bill," Walz said. "They helped craft it. They're the ones that supported it. It was because they know we need to do this. Look, this issue of continuing to bring this up, of not dealing with it, of blaming migrants for everything.

"On housing, we could talk a little bit about Wall Street speculators buying up housing and making them less affordable, but it becomes a blame. Look, this bill also gives the money necessary to adjudicate. I agree it should not take seven years for an asylum claim to be done.

"This bill gets it done in 90 days. Then, you start to make a difference in this, and you start to adhere to what we know, American principles. I don't talk about my faith a lot, but Matthew 25:40 talks about to the least amongst us, you do unto me. I think that's true of most Americans. They simply want order to it. This bill does it. It's funded. It's supported by the people who do it, and it lets us keep our dignity about how we treat other people."

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Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, the Republican vice presidential candidate, and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, participate in a debate at the CBS Broadcast Center Oct. 1, 2024, in New York City. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Vance referred to the Biden-Harris record on immigration as a "disgrace."

"Look, what Tim said just doesn't pass the smell test," Vance said. "For three years. Kamala Harris went out bragging that she was going to undo Donald Trump's border policy. She did exactly that. We had a record number of illegal crossings. We had a record number of fentanyl coming into our country.

"And now that she's running for president or a few months before, she says that somehow she got religion and cares a lot about a piece of legislation. The only thing that she did when she became the vice president, when she became the appointed border czar was to undo 94 Donald Trump executive actions that opened the border. This problem is leading to massive problems in the United States of America. Parents who can't afford health care, schools that are overwhelmed. It's got to stop. And it will when Donald Trump is president."

A Harris campaign official told Fox News Digital that its focus group of undecided voters watching the debate reacted more strongly in favor of Walz's comments.

"Overall, Gov. Walz outperformed JD Vance in the immigration section, and the highest rating for Gov. Walz of the night so far was when he reminded viewers of Donald Trump's failed promise to build a wall, only building 2% of it," the campaign said.