JD Vance’s Mic Gets Cut After Immigration Question At Debate

Debate moderators cut off the candidates’ microphones during Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate as Republican JD Vance tried to get in a last word about immigration.

Shortly before the cutoff, Vance, Donald Trump’s running mate, complained that a debate moderator corrected him when he suggested Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were there illegally.

“The rules that you guys weren’t going to fact check,” Vance said.

It was one of the most chaotic moments during an otherwise civil and polite debate in which both candidates said they believed the other was sincere about solving the country’s problems.

The exchange started when Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, called out Vance for repeating false stories about Haitian immigrants in Springfield eating people’s pets. Walz noted that the immigrants had arrived in Springfield legally and that the smears had resulted in terroristic threats against the city and its schools.

“There’s consequences for this. There’s consequences,” Walz said. “I believe Sen. Vance wants to solve this, but by standing with Donald Trump and not working together to find a solution, it becomes a talking point, and when it becomes a talking point like this, we dehumanize and villainize other human beings.”

Rather than recant the smear against the Haitians, the Ohio senator suggested he was making a bigger point about immigration’s effect on towns across the country.

“In Springfield, Ohio, and in communities all across this country, you’ve got schools that are overwhelmed, you’ve got hospitals that are overwhelmed, you’ve got housing that is totally unaffordable because we brought in millions of illegal immigrants to compete with Americans for scarce homes,” Vance said.

Shortly afterward, CBS News moderator Margaret Brennan chimed in with a fact check: “And just to clarify for our viewers, Springfield, Ohio, does have a large number of Haitian migrants who have legal status, temporary protected.”

Vance complained about the fact check and began making a point about the administration’s efforts to allow migrants from certain countries, including Haiti, to legally enter the U.S. in order to reduce the number of encounters at the southern border. Walz interrupted and moderators loudly thanked Vance in an effort to move things along. Then the candidates’ mics went off.

“Gentlemen, the audience can’t hear you because your mics are cut,” Brennan said. “We have so much we want to get to. Thank you for explaining the legal process.”

Sullivan had initially asked Vance if the mass deportation operation Trump has proposed would separate undocumented immigrant parents from children who are U.S. citizens because they were born here. Vance avoided answering the question, instead saying the deportations would start with undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes. And he said Trump would “stop the bleeding” by reducing further immigration.

Walz responded that Trump had thwarted a bipartisan border bill that would have boosted border personnel and speeded deportations. And he noted that Trump had failed to fulfill his 2016 promise to make Mexico pay for a border wall. (The bipartisan bill would have funded more wall construction.)

“Donald Trump had four years,” Walz said. “He had four years to do this, and he promised you, America, how easy it would be. ‘I’ll build you a big, beautiful wall, and Mexico will pay for it.’ Less than 2% of that wall got built, and Mexico didn’t pay a dime.”