BURSTVice President Vance defended the Trump administration’s move to deport Maryland man Kilmar Abrego Garcia, criticizing legal efforts to secure his return to the U.S.
In a lengthy post on the social platform X on Tuesday, Vance argued that former President Biden allowed approximately 20 million undocumented immigrants into the country, which he said has placed “extraordinary burdens” on U.S. schools, hospitals and housing.
“The American people elected the Trump administration to solve this problem,” Vance said. “The President has successfully stopped the inflow of illegal aliens, and now we must deport the people who came here illegally.”
Vance’s post came just hours after a federal judge ordered Trump officials to deliver depositions about its failure to retrieve Abrego Garcia, who is a legal U.S. resident and was wrongfully deported to a prison in El Salvador.
The administration acknowledged that Abrego Garcia was mistakenly deported last month, but a Supreme Court order has provided wiggle room around the efforts to return him. Officials have argued that the administration cannot push a foreign country to release someone and that Abrego Garcia may be deported again if he returns to the U.S.
Abrego Garcia’s lawyers have accused the Trump administration of skirting responsibility and the Supreme Court’s order in securing his return.
Democrats, including Sen. Chris Van Hollen (Md.) have also argued that Abrego Garcia did not receive due process in his arrest and removal. All U.S. residents are entitled to due process, including review by a judge, before being sentenced to time in prison.
But, in his Tuesday post, Vance questioned this argument.
“Here’s a useful test: ask the people weeping over the lack of due process what precisely they propose for dealing with Biden’s millions and millions of illegals. And with reasonable resource and administrative judge constraints, does their solution allow us to deport at least a few million people a year?” Vance questioned.
“If the answer is no, they’ve given their game away. They don’t want border security. They don’t want us to deport the people who’ve come into our country illegally. They want to accomplish through fake legal process what they failed to accomplish politically: The ratification of Biden’s illegal migrant invasion,” he continued.
Vance said he and President Trump will not stand for it.
U.S. District Court Judge Paula Xinis said she was holding off on deciding if the government should be held in contempt but would rule on the matter later on.
The administration must respond to interrogatories and document production requests and four officials must sit for a deposition by April 23, per the judge's orders.