JD Vance Tells Dems to ‘Stop Calling us Racist’ Over Immigration Policy

Ohio Senator JD Vance asked Democrats to stop calling Trump supporters racist on Thursday, saying it wasn’t racist to want to shut down the southern border.

Speaking at a Pennsylvania rally, former President Donald Trump‘s running mate admitted he was “fired up” and said he was defending Republicans’ right to speak their minds.

Vance said he was accused of being racist when he “pointed out that there’s a small town in Ohio” where “criminal gangs, sometimes, are moving into our communities and making it unsafe for American citizens.”

He was referring to Springfield, Ohio, where he has repeatedly suggested, without evidence, that Haitian migrants are eating peoples’ pets. The mayor of Springfield told Newsweek the city has no credible evidence supporting these allegations.

“What really gets me going is when Kamala Harris attacks the citizens of her own country as racist for daring to say that she should not have opened up our southern border,” Vance said Thursday.

“Stop trying to sensor us for criticizing your government,” he added. “Stop calling us racist for saying we’ve got to close down that southern border. Stop accusing us of being bad people because we have the audacity to say to Kamala Harris that she ought to do her damn job.”

Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, also spoke Thursday and highlighted when Vance said in 2016 that voters “don’t really like the racist part of Trump.”

Harris has not explicitly called Vance or Trump racist, but she has branded their immigration stance as “extreme” and “divisive” in recent months. Other members of the Democratic Party, including Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Cori Bush, have called Trump and Vance racist.

Newsweek reached out to the Harris-Walz campaign for comment via email Friday afternoon.

Vance said attempts to “censor” Trump supporters’ views on illegal immigration or other issues are divisive, and that Harris and Walz’s pledge to bring the country together would fail if they weren’t willing to hear opposing views.

“We will always fight for your right to speak your mind,” the Ohio senator said of the Trump campaign. “The genius of the First Amendment is not just that it protects everybody’s rights, it’s that when we debate our ideas, rather than censor one another, we can actually come to the table, we can disagree but still share a meal with one another afterwards.”

He concluded his remarks by saying that while people may not always agree, “this is America, and we get to say whatever the hell we want to.”

Vance’s comments came days after Trump described those who oppose him as “the enemy within” and alluded to using the U.S. military against them.

Vance has stood by his comments on Springfield and other immigration issues, at one point admitting to CNN‘s Dana Bash that he and Trump had to create stories to make people listen.

After Trump and Vance amplified unverified claims of Haitian migrants eating peoples’ pets, the Haitian community was put on high alert and warned about being the target of violence. Municipal buildings, healthcare facilities, and schools in the area also received bomb threats, and multiple places had to be evacuated as a result.

Trump, meanwhile, has doubled down on his anti-immigrant rhetoric, saying at one point that immigrants are “poisoning the blood” of the U.S.

A PRRI survey on American values published last week showed that a third of Americans believe immigrants are “poisoning the blood” of the country, with 60 percent of White evangelical Protestants expressing support for the sentiment.

Immigration advocacy groups have frequently raised concerns about the GOP’s immigration and border policy, including strict rules at the border and mass deportations. A group of Christian leaders said Monday that both campaigns need to put forward secure but fair border policies.

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