Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, former President Donald Trump\u2019s running mate, evaded multiple questions Saturday about whether Trump\u2019s proposed \u201czero tolerance\u201d policy on immigration would lead to family separation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
First, Vance told NBC News\u2019 \u201cMeet the Press\u201d that before he imposed mass deportations, Trump would need to \u201cstop the bleeding.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou have to stop so many people from coming here illegally in the first place, and that means undoing everything that [Vice President] Kamala Harris did practically on day one of the administration,\u201d he added, later saying: \u201cBefore we even fix the problem, we\u2019ve got to stop the problem from getting worse.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asked again by moderator Kristen Welker about whether the Trump administration\u2019s plan would include family separation, Vance dodged again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think that families are currently being separated,\u201d he said, adding that \u201cyou\u2019re certainly going to have to deport some people in this country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He argued that mass deportations under Trump would \u201cstart with the most violent criminals in our country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThose people need to be deported,\u201d Vance said. \u201cThat\u2019s where you focus federal resources.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vance went on to blast Harris again, baselessly accusing her of backing policies that led to family separations and to children living with criminals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When President Joe Biden and Harris first took office, Bid<\/a>e<\/a>n re<\/a>scinded<\/a> the Trump-era zero-tolerance policy and established a family reunification task force that found that more than 5,000 families<\/a> were separated under the policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n More recently, the Biden administration worked with a bipartisan group of senators to craft a comprehensive immigration and border security plan that seemed to have buy-in from both parties on Capitol Hill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But GOP support for the bill tanked<\/a> after Trump indicated his disapproval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Visiting the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona for a campaign event Thursday, Trump also dodged NBC News<\/a>\u2019<\/a> questions<\/a> about whether his \u201czero tolerance\u201d proposal would lead to family separations, instead saying \u201cprovisions will be made\u201d for mixed-status families that may have some members who are U.S. citizens and some who are undocumented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump did not clarify what provisions would be made for those families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n