Senator J.D. Vance isn’t afraid to call out the glaring issues surrounding illegal immigration, and his latest clash with ABC’s Martha Raddatz was no exception. Appearing on This Week, Vance took Raddatz to task over a contentious issue: the presence of Venezuelan migrant gang members in Aurora, Colorado. The exchange became heated as Raddatz downplayed the severity of the situation, suggesting that it was isolated to a “handful of apartment complexes.”
During the interview, Raddatz seemed more focused on pushing back against President Trump’s recent rally comments on the issue rather than acknowledging the situation itself. “I’m going to stop you because I know exactly what happened,” she interrupted, adding, “The incidents were limited to a handful of apartment complexes, and the mayor said our dedicated police officers have acted on those concerns. A handful of problems.”
Vance, however, was having none of it. He called out what he saw as blatant dismissal of a serious issue, accusing Raddatz of focusing too much on the language used by Trump rather than the safety concerns facing Americans. “Martha, do you hear yourself? Only a handful of apartment complexes in America were taken over by Venezuelan gangs, and Donald Trump is the problem and not Kamala Harris’ open border?” he fired back. He continued, “Americans are so fed up with what’s going on, and they have every right to be.”
When your town is overrun with violent criminal gangs, Kamala Harris and her friends will say, "well, it's only a handful of apartment complexes" that have been overrun by illegal gangs.
The only acceptable number of American apartments overrun by criminal gangs is zero. https://t.co/qv3j9jsNaY
— JD Vance (@JDVance) October 13, 2024
The Venezuelan gang in question, Tren de Aragua (TdA), is known for its violent activities and has caused quite a stir in Aurora. Earlier this year, surveillance footage went viral, capturing armed gang members kicking down an apartment door. This event has since highlighted the serious risks associated with the influx of unvetted migrants, many of whom, according to Vance, are linked to dangerous groups like TdA.
Vance then doubled down on the dangers of the Biden-Harris immigration policies, citing that allowing millions of unvetted migrants into the country was bound to have consequences. “When you let people in by the millions, most of whom are unvetted, most of whom you don’t know who they really are, you’re going to have problems like this,” he said. He didn’t hesitate to lay the blame at Kamala Harris’s feet, mentioning her “94 executive orders that undid Donald Trump’s successful border policies.”
Raddatz tried to wrap it up with another jab, saying, “Let’s just end that with they did not invade or take over the city as Donald Trump said.” But Vance wasn’t letting her off that easily. “A few apartment complexes, no big deal,” he quipped, throwing a final punch at what he clearly saw as a flippant dismissal of a real issue affecting American communities.
The message from Vance was clear: downplaying the real-world consequences of open borders isn’t going to sit well with Americans who are watching their communities change overnight. And while Raddatz may be keen to downplay the scope, Vance made it clear he’s not about to let her—or anyone else—dismiss the security concerns these policies bring home.