Vance’s Border Wall Backlash

Ohio Senator JD Vance recently attacked Vice President Kamala Harris, accusing her of shifting her stance on the border wall. However, his comments quickly backfired as critics pointed out his own history of opposing a bipartisan bill aimed at tightening border security.

Republicans have increasingly focused on immigration and border issues to challenge the Harris-Walz campaign ahead of the presidential election.

In a recent move, Vance shared an Axios article titled "Harris Flip-Flops on Building the Border Wall" on X, accusing her of being disingenuous. "Kamala Harris is a fake. If she wants to build the border wall, she could start right now!" he remarked.

The reaction was immediate, with many reminding Vance that Republicans had blocked a bipartisan immigration bill in May after pressure from former President Donald Trump. This bill, which would have strengthened border protections and authorized the president to halt asylum if illegal crossings exceeded a threshold, initially seemed likely to pass.

The proposal included $650 million for wall funding — significantly less than the $18 billion Trump sought during his presidency. Despite initial support, the bill crumbled after Trump and his loyalists in Congress vehemently opposed it. Reports indicated that Trump was angered by Republicans cooperating with Democrats on one of his signature issues.

Jake Broe, a former U.S. nuclear officer, criticized Vance for blocking a bipartisan border security bill that included wall funding, saying, "You are the problem."

The bill, previously criticized by Republicans due to its foreign aid ties, aimed to tighten asylum rules. Harris recently vowed to revive it, marking a shift from her 2017 stance when she dismissed Trump's border wall as a "medieval vanity project."

At the DNC, Harris said: “Joe Biden and I brought together Democrats and conservative Republicans to write the strongest border bill in decades; the border patrol endorsed it. But Donald Trump believes a border deal would hurt his campaign, so he ordered his allies in Congress to kill the deal.”

Progressive Democrats and Latino lawmakers have also criticized the bill, citing its lack of provisions for undocumented immigrants, including “Dreamers.”