U.S. Vice President JD Vance ripped into CBS journalist Margaret Brennan as she questioned him over President Donald Trump’s slew of executive orders, including the suspension of refugee resettlement.
In his first interview since taking office, Vance appeared on the network’s Face the Nation, where Brennan asked him about the decision to cut off the program.
The VP defended Trump’s order that demands better vetting for visa applications, resulting in Brennan asking him whether he stood by his previous comments that the U.S. should not “abandon anybody who’s been properly vetted.”
Vance replied: “Well, Margaret, I don’t agree that all these immigrants, or all these refugees have been properly vetted.”
He continued: “In fact, we know that there are cases of people who allegedly were properly vetted and then were literally planning terrorist attacks in our country. That happened during the campaign, if you may remember. So, clearly, not all of these foreign nationals have been properly vetted.”
Brennan pressed Vance on whether he stands by his comments as tens of thousands of Afghan refugees’ resettlement processes now remain in limbo.
“My primary concern as the vice president, Margaret, is to look after the American people …” before she interrupted him with, “So, no.”
Vance continued to speak as if she hasn’t cut him off: “And now that we know that we have vetting problems with a lot of these refugee programs, we absolutely cannot unleash thousands of unvetted people into our country. It’s not good.”
Brennan, however, insisted that the Afghan refugees “are vetted,” prompting Vance to reference an Afghan national in Oklahoma who was accused in October of plotting an Election Day terrorist attack.
The man arrived in the United States in September 2021 following the U.S.’s withdrawal from Afghanistan and went through multiple vetting processes.
“I don’t want my children to share a neighbourhood with people who are not properly vetted. And because I don’t want it for my kids, I’m not going to force any other American citizens’ kids to do that either,” Vance noted.
Brennan called that a “very particular case,” adding, “It wasn’t clear if he was radicalized when he got here or while he was living here, but …”
Vance stood his ground, declaring, “I don’t really care, Margaret. I don’t want that person in my country, and I think most Americans agree with me.”
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The two also discussed Trump’s executive order to deny U.S. citizenship to the children of parents living in the country illegally, which was temporarily blocked by a federal judge last week.
Brennan argued that “this is a country founded by immigrants.”
Vance fired back, “This is a very unique country, and it was founded by some immigrants and some settlers. But just because we were founded by immigrants doesn’t mean that, 240 years later, that we have to have the dumbest immigration policy in the world.”
He added: “No country says that temporary visitors, their children will be given complete access to the benefits and blessings of American citizenship.”