During a campaign stop in North Carolina, Republican vice presidential nominee and Ohio Sen. JD Vance falsely accused Vice President Kamala Harris of taking illegal action to allow Haitians to stay in the United States.
“She used two programs to wave a wand and to say we’re not going to deport those people here,” Vance said. “Well, if Kamala Harris waves the wand illegally and says these people are now here legally, I’m still going to call them an illegal alien.”
The statement has inflamed the rhetoric about Haitians living in Ohio, who former President Donald Trump has baselessly said have eaten their neighbors’ house pets.
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Here’s why Vance’s claim is not true.
He is talking about the Temporary Protected Status designation the Department of Homeland Security has granted for hundreds of thousands of Haitians that lets them remain in the U.S. temporarily because of dangerous unrest back home.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced the program’s renewal for Haitians in July 2021.