- JD Vance praised his Indian-origin in-laws for contributing to the US.
- He distinguished legal immigrants from illegal migration concerns.
- Vance also criticized alleged fraud in the H-1B visa syste
United States Vice-President JD Vance has drawn a sharp distinction between illegal migration and the contributions of legal citizens, citing his Indian-origin in-laws as prime examples of those who have “enriched” the United States.
Speaking at a Turning Point USA event at the University of Georgia on Tuesday, the US Vice-President, who is married to Usha Vance, the first Indian-origin Second Lady, tempered his praise for his immigrant in-laws with a sharp critique of the H-1B visa programme, alleging widespread "fraud" and misuse within the system that the administration is moving to restrict.
Addressing the crowd, Vance said, “I am married to the daughter of immigrants from India, and you know, I love my in-laws. They're great people and they've been great contributors to the United States of America. You can believe that there's a lot of fraud in the system while also believing there are people who have come to the United States and enriched this country.”
The US Vice-President's wife traces her roots to Vadluru, a village in Andhra Pradesh.
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Emphasising a "country-first" approach to immigration, Vance noted that citizenship carries a fundamental duty of loyalty. “One of the responsibilities that we must expect of citizens… is that you have to think about the best interests of the country, and not the country you came from beforehand,” Vance stated, reinforcing his vision of an integrated American identity.
The Vice-President's remarks followed an exchange with an Indian-origin student at the University of Georgia, who expressed her growing frustration over the decade-long Green Card backlog, a systemic hurdle for thousands of families like hers who entered the U.S. on H-1B visas, but remain in a state of permanent limbo due to country-specific quotas.
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