JD Vance guarded by snipers during border visit to San Diego-Tijuana area

SAN DIEGO (Border Report) — Vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance visited the San Diego-Tijuana border Friday morning, where he was met with security that was described as “exceptionally good.”

Snipers were seen atop a ring of Border Patrol buses isolating Vance and shielding him from view in an area known as “Whiskey 8.”

A Homeland Security helicopter flew over the area to provide air support, while members of the Mexican National Guard were stationed just south of the border, providing further protection for Vance.

This is an area where, until a few months ago, hundreds of migrants would gather every day, waiting for officers to come and pick them up.

But the border region has been relatively quiet in recent months, as encounters with migrants have dropped by 50% across the San Diego area as a whole, according to figures released last month by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Mexican National Guard troops patrol an area just south of the border where JD Vance spoke during a visit to the San Diego-Tijuana border, while U.S. snipers kept watch on the northern side of the border. (Salvador Rivera/Border Report)

Vance spoke for about 20 minutes on “Whiskey 8” to a select group of guests, including San Diego Supervisor Jim Desmond.

“I think he’s genuine, I think he’s a good person and that’s how he comes across to me,” Desmond said.

This was the first time the supervisor met Vance. Desmond said they only spoke for a few minutes.

“He asked me a couple of questions about the double fence and what that means,” Desmond said. “He also asked me about the impact on San Diego County.”

According to Desmond, the two also discussed a migrant drop-off site, which has now been closed for most of the year.

“I told him it was costing about $1.5 million a month and that we were also having problems with injuries, people falling off thirty-foot fences and sometimes dying or ending up in the hospital.”

Vance spoke to reporters assigned to his campaign and talked about what former President Donald Trump wants to do along the U.S.-Mexico border if he is elected president.

“We want to wage war on the Mexican drug cartels, we want to close the U.S. southern border, resume deportations and put an end to the madness at the southern border,” Vance said.

Reporters from the San Diego-Tijuana area were denied access to the vice presidential candidate and were kept about a quarter mile away from the event.

“He talked about Border Patrol agents being allowed to do their job,” Desmond said. “We’re all frustrated with the amount of activity we’ve had here in San Diego County. It seems to have slowed down a little bit, but the fact is our border is still wide open. We’re not allowing our Border Patrol agents to properly screen people before they come in. That’s what he was really talking about today.”