Senator J.D. Vance, an Ohio Republican, advocated to “massively increase” legal immigration in a 2010 blog post that resurfaced in a CNN report on Thursday.
Vance has emerged as a staunch ally to former President Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, and his Make America Great Again (MAGA) campaign, which heavily supports anti-immigration policies.
The senator has even been floated as a potential running mate for Trump and supported him during his Manhattan criminal trial last month, which is in stark contrast to Vance’s anti-Trump social media activity from 2016 during Trump’s first presidential campaign.
Years before Vance was liking tweets calling then-presidential candidate Trump a “monster” and a “nemesis of the GOP,” which CNN recently uncovered, he called for more migrants to enter the U.S.
Vance, who was a student at the time, wrote in a post on Frum Forum, a conservative blog, in April 2010: “Border security is a good start, but if we plan to control the border, then we must also plan to massively increase the number of legal migrants allowed into the country.”
He continued: “The day that America no longer welcomes decent, hardworking foreign nationals is the day that our nation loses something very central to its character and its economic diversity.”
When asked about the blog post, Vance told CNN: “It was a stupid opinion from 15 years ago when I was in my 20s. All anyone needs to do is check my voting record as a senator to see that I have consistently opposed increased immigration levels into America.”
Since Vance was elected to the Senate in 2022, he has supported restrictions on both legal and illegal immigration.
Newsweek reached out to Vance’s office via email for comment on Thursday but referred to Vance’s statements to CNN.
Illegal immigration has drastically increased in recent years. In 2010, the United States Border Patrol (USBP) documented 463,382 nationwide encounters. There have already been 1,981,117 in the 2024 fiscal year, which began in October.
Republicans have prioritized the immigration issue while criticizing the administration of President Joe Biden over the massive influx of illegal migrants crossing U.S. borders. Earlier this month, Biden signed an executive action to temporarily halt asylum requests once the average number of daily encounters reaches 2,500. The action took effect immediately.
Speaking about his change of heart toward Trump, Vance told CNN, “Not only were Trump’s many successes in office impossible to ignore, but everything changes once you come to the realization that the corporate media and ‘deep state’ would engage in a coordinated propaganda campaign to destroy the sitting president of the United States.
“Trump’s enemies are America’s enemies and the reason the corporate media hates me so much is because I see through their bull**** lies about him. I’m proud to be one of his strongest supporters in the Senate today and I’m going to do everything in my power to ensure President Trump wins in November—the survival of America depends on it,” he said.
Donald Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., stood by Vance in a statement to CNN: “Given all the stories already written on this topic, it’s embarrassing that news outlets continue to regurgitate them like they’re breaking news. Trust me, we have all discussed it with him at length and not only are we long past all of this, but we’re 100% confident that JD is America First to the core. Objectively speaking, no one in the Senate has been a stronger supporter of my father than he has been.”
Jason Miller, senior adviser to Trump, told CNN: “It’s important to keep in mind that politics is ultimately politics.”
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