Former President Donald Trump’s running mate was flanked by law enforcement personnel as he spoke outside the Shelby Township Police Department in Michigan.
In Shelby Township late last month, an illegal immigrant who had previously been deported was charged with the alleged sexual assault of his own minor daughter.
“It is a policy choice to open up the American southern border and allow migrant criminals to come into this community and make it less safe,” Vance said in his Aug. 7 remarks in the community, north of Detroit in Macomb County.
Immigration and the border remain key concerns for Americans ahead of November’s election.
In February, Gallup found that Americans rated immigration as the country’s top issue. It has remained at or near the top of Gallup’s “Most Important Problem” list in the months since, falling 7 points below “the government/poor leadership” in the July poll.
James Tignanelli of the Police Officers Association of Michigan also spoke on Aug. 7. He said his organization supports the Trump–Vance presidential ticket.
Vance’s appearance occurred one day after the state’s Aug. 6 primaries. GOP primary victor and incumbent Rep. John James (R-Mich.) was in the audience. James’s competitive Tenth District includes the township.
Former Congressman Pete Hoekstra, chair of the Michigan GOP, was in the crowd, too, as was former Congressman Mike Rogers. Rogers’s victory in the U.S. Senate primary has set him up to face Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) in November.
Rogers told The Epoch Times that Vance’s rival on the Democratic side, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, along with presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris are “wrong for Michigan and wrong for working people.”
Harris is scheduled to speak later Aug. 7 at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport. She will be joined by Walz, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, and other officials.
After Vance spoke, he took questions from reporters, prioritizing questions from Michigan reporters. He also criticized the media’s coverage of Harris.
“I ask all the reporters here to show a little bit of self-awareness and demand that Kamala Harris actually do the job of a presidential candidate and speak to the media,” Vance said.
The Democratic presidential nominee has not taken media questions for more than two weeks.
One local reporter, noting that Vance is the father of biracial children, asked him about Trump’s remarks about Harris’s heritage while at a National Association of Black Journalists event in Chicago.
“I don’t know, is she Indian or is she black?” the former president asked during the Chicago panel.
Vance, whose wife, Usha, is of Indian descent, said he believed that Trump’s controversial comment wasn’t aimed at Harris’s biracial background.
“What I took it as was an attack on Kamala Harris being a chameleon,” Vance said, adding that Harris changes how she presents herself depending on her audience.
Vance also fielded a question from a reporter who characterized the politician’s demeanor as angry and severe and asked what made him smile.
GOP Senate Nominee Talks Chinese Factory
Slotkin, running against Rogers for the Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), currently has a massive fundraising lead on Rogers.“We think we can make it up by the issues that matter most to people,” Rogers told The Epoch Times.
He stressed his opposition to Gotion Inc., a Chinese electric vehicle battery company that has sought to build facilities in Michigan and Illinois.
Rogers pledged to “cut off the money” to the proposed Michigan factory, which cleared a legal hurdle a few months ago against the backdrop of local opposition. He also suggested that he could target the visas of technical workers who were recruited from China to work at the plant.
The Republican noted the warnings from former CIA Director Leon Panetta of possible Chinese espionage at the facility. A Democrat, Panetta served as CIA director and Secretary of Defense under President Barack Obama.
