Vance said it was Vice President Kamala Harris who was to blame for immigration problems, and cited worries about Springfield residents who “had their lives destroyed” by U.S. border policies that he said “brought in millions of illegal immigrants to compete with Americans.”
At that point, debate moderator Margaret Brennan interjected that Springfield “does have a large number of Haitian migrants who have legal status, Temporary Protected Status.”
Vance objected, pointing to stated debate rules that moderators wouldn’t fact-check, then began explaining the application process for migrants.
After letting Vance speak for awhile, Brennan interrupted him and said it was time to move on to other issues. Vance, Walz and Brennan spoke over each other until CBS News muted the microphones of both Vance and Walz.
Below are video clips and a text transcription, starting from the first time when Springfield was mentioned in the immigration debate.
MODERATOR: What about our CBS polling that shows more than 50% of Americans support mass deportations?
WALZ: Look, we fix this issue with a bill that is necessary, but the issue on this is, this is what happens when you don’t want to solve it [immigration],” Walz said. “You demonize it. And we saw this — Sen. Vance, and it surprises me on this, talking about and saying, ‘I will create stories to bring attention to this.’ That vilified a large number of people who were here legally in the community of Springfield. The Republican governor said, it’s not true, don’t do it. There’s consequences for this. We could come together. Sen. Langford did it. We could come together and solve this if we didn’t let Donald Trump continue to make it an issue. And the consequences in Springfield were, the governor had to send state law enforcement to escort kindergartners to school. I believe Sen. Vance wants to solve this, but by standing with Donald Trump, and not working together to find a solution, it becomes a talking point. And when it becomes a talking point like this, we dehumanize and villanize other human beings.
MODERATOR: The governor has made the point, and I think as a sitting lawmaker you know that Congress controls the purse strings and any funding. You have said repeatedly that Donald Trump would, through executive action, solve this. Do you disagree that Congress controls the purse strings and would need to support many of the changes that you would actually want to implement?
VANCE: The gross majority of what we need to do at the southern border is just empowering law enforcement to do their job. 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. Of course additional resources would help, but most of this is about the president and the vice president empowering our law enforcement to say, if you try to come across the border illegally, you’ve gotta stay in Mexico, you’ve gotta go back through proper channels. Now Governor Walz brought up the community of Springfield. And he’s very worried about the things that I’ve said about Springfield. Look, in Springfield, Ohio, and in communities all across this county, you’ve got schools that are overwhelmed, you’ve got hospitals that are overwhelmed, you’ve got housing that is totally unaffordable because we’ve 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 agree with you. I think you want to solve this problem, but I don’t think that Kamala Harris does.
WALZ: It is law enforcement that asked for the bill. They helped craft it. They’re the ones that supported it. That’s because they know we need to do this. 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 it less affordable. 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. It lets us keep our dignity about how we treat other people.
MODERATOR: Just to clarify for our viewers, Springfield, Ohio, does have a large number of Haitian migrants who have legal status, Temporary Protected Status.
VANCE: Margaret, the rules were that you guys weren’t going to fact-check, and since you’re fact-checking me, I think it’s important to say what is actually going on. There’s an application called the CBP-1 app, where you can go on as an illegal migrant, apply for asylum or apply for parole, and be granted legal status at the wave of a Kamala Harris open-border wand. That is not a person coming in, applying for a green card, and waiting 10 years, that is the facilitation of illegal immigration, Margaret, by our own leadership.
MODERATOR: Thank you Senator for describing the legal process.
WALZ: Those laws have been on the books since 1990.
VANCE: The CBP One app has not been on the books since ...
MODERATOR: We have so much to get to. Gentlemen, the audience can’t hear you because your mics are cut.
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