JD Vance Will Still Call Legal Haitian Immigrants ‘Illegal’: Here’s Why

Ohio Senator JD Vance said Wednesday that he would continue calling Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, “illegal aliens” despite being in the country legally.
Former President Donald Trump’s running mate was speaking in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he once again brought up the city that has been at the center of immigration discussion the past week.
While the Republican steered clear of debunked claims of Haitian migrants eating cats and dogs, he insisted that longtime residents felt unsafe and that 20,000 were still in the city “illegally.”
Follow Newsweek’s live blog for election updates.
Many Haitian migrants have arrived in the U.S. under the Biden administration’s Humanitarian Parole and Temporary Protected Status programs. The programs allow migrants from Haiti, as well as Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, to enter the U.S. legally if they have a sponsor and meet strict vetting criteria. Those who are eligible can wait within the U.S. while their longer-term immigration status is decided on.
“If Kamala Harris waves a wand, illegally, and says these people are now here legally, I’m still going to call them illegal aliens,” Vance said. “An illegal action by Kamala Harris does not make an alien legal. That is not how this works.”
Vance had earlier attacked Vice President Harris for allowing “25 million illegal aliens” into the country, a number that experts told Newsweek was unfounded.
Vance has said mass deportation is necessary to bring down the costs of housing and make life easier for American citizens, again pointing to Ohio as a state that has seen negative impacts from immigration.
Vance said the current administration was playing a “game” in which they were flooding towns with migrants “who shouldn’t even be there in the first place” for cheap labor that blocks out American workers.
He also pointed to Springfield, saying residents told him there were areas of town they couldn’t go to, as Haitian migrants had made the roads unsafe.
Springfield Mayor Rob Rue told Newsweek on Tuesday that there had been road safety concerns, but those were being addressed.
Later, Vance was asked why he was calling Haitians in Springfield “illegal aliens” when they had arrived by legal means under the Biden administration.
He accused Harris of using two programs—mass parole, known as CHNV for the countries it covers, and Temporary Protected Status—to “wave a wand” and allow them in.
Responding to similar claims earlier Wednesday, American Immigration Council fellow Aaron Reichlin-Melnick said on X, formerly Twitter, that parole was lawful.
“Again, by all reports Harris was not involved with any part of the CHNV parole program, and there were no government ‘flights’,” he posted.
TPS is a legal process granted under the Immigration Act of 1990, which allows nationals from countries the Department of Homeland Security designates to enter the U.S. or remain in it without fear of deportation, while their immigration case is heard.
Those who enter under Advance Travel Authorization must pass strict vetting processes and be sponsored by someone within the U.S. They can then purchase a plane ticket themselves and choose their final destination.
Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas extended TPS for Haiti in June 2024 for an additional 18 months.
“We are providing this humanitarian relief to Haitians already present in the United States given the conditions that existed in their home country as of June 3, 2024,” Mayorkas said. “In doing so, we are realizing the core objective of the TPS law and our obligation to fulfill it.”
Latest CBP data showed that nearly 214,000 Haitians had been allowed into the U.S. under CHNV, while data from the Immigration Forum showed that more than 200,000 Haitians had been found eligible for TPS.
Newsweek reached out to the Trump and Harris campaigns Wednesday afternoon via email for comment.
Update 9/18/24, 5:17 p.m. ET: This story was updated with additional information.