JD Vance claims Harris’ border policies ‘lost thousands of innocent children’ to sex and human trafficking

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. J.D. Vance, Republican of Ohio, was surrounded by police supporters at a campaign rally in Georgia on Thursday as he claimed that Vice President Kamala Harris’ border policies have caused the federal government to lose “thousands of innocent children” to sex and human trafficking.

Vance appeared to be referring to a report from the Department of Homeland Security inspector general released earlier this week.

According to the DHS watchdog report, as of May 2024, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had not yet issued notices to appear for more than 291,000 unaccompanied migrant children, “who therefore do not yet have an immigration court date.” An audit found that ICE had transferred more than 448,000 unaccompanied migrant children who crossed the border illegally from fiscal years 2019 through 2023.

However, ICE failed to take into account for the location of all unaccompanied migrant children released from DHS and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) custody during that period who did not appear in immigration court as scheduled, the DHS Inspector General’s Office said. ICE reported that more than 32,000 unaccompanied migrant children failed to appear for their immigration court hearings from fiscal years 2019 through 2023, the report added.

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Senator JD Vance speaks at a campaign rally in Kenosha, Wisconsin on August 20, 2024. (Andy Manis/Getty Images)

On the same day Harris was set to accept the Democratic nomination for president, Vance campaigned with police in Valdosta, Georgia, before answering questions from reporters.

One of them pointed to Wednesday’s speeches at the Democratic National Convention, which focused on the “human aspect of immigration,” and included a speech by a DACA recipient.

“As the husband of someone who was the daughter of immigrants, what is your view on the deportation plan that Trump… is going to implement? Particularly the detention of families and children?” the reporter asked.

Vance clarified that he “married the daughter of legal immigrants to this country, people who respected the country enough to follow the rules before they came here.”

“You hear Democrats say this a lot, and some of the speakers at the Democratic National Convention say that Donald Trump wants to separate families, and I don’t know how they can say that with a straight face,” Vance continued.

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on August 19, 2024. (Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Images)

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“Our administration, under the Kamala Harris administration, has lost thousands of innocent children to sex trafficking, drug trafficking, human trafficking,” Vance said. “The party that believes in separating parents from their children is Kamala Harris, because that’s what the open border has done. It has separated American citizens from their children. It has separated many illegal aliens from their children. It is not good by any means.”

“I don’t blame these poor children who are victims of sex trafficking and drug trafficking by the Mexican drug cartels,” he said. “But I don’t want to implement policies that make it easier for the drug cartels to abuse those children. We need to implement policies that make it harder for the drug cartels, go to war with the drug cartels, not facilitate their sex trafficking and drug trafficking.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to the vice president’s office and Harris’ campaign for comment, but they have not yet responded.

Vance concluded his speech with a final message to those who entered the United States illegally.

Migrants are processed by U.S. Border Patrol agents in Jacumba Hot Springs, California on June 28, 2024. (Qian Weizhong/VCG via Getty Images)

“Our message to illegal aliens who came into this country in violation of our laws is, yes, if you came into this country illegally, Donald Trump and I will work to send you home, because that’s what it takes if you want to have real border policy,” Vance said. “And our message to anyone who wants to come to this country is to do it through the proper channels, because once Kamala Harris is removed from office — and that’s going to happen in a couple of months — once Kamala Harris is removed from office, we’re not going to be open to doing business with illegal aliens or the Mexican drug cartels.”

Vance previously pointed out that the event took place not far from Laken Riley’s hometown and childhood home. Riley, a nursing student, was allegedly murdered by an illegal Venezuelan immigrant while out for a run.

Former President Trump’s running mate described Riley as a “beautiful, beautiful young girl who would be alive today if Kamala Harris had done her job and not allowed these drug cartels into our community.”

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Former President Barack Obama advocated securing the border “without taking children away from their parents” in his speech to the DNC in Chicago on Tuesday.

Obama failed to mention the report, which was released earlier that day,