SAN DIEGO (Border Report) — Vice-presidential candidate J.D. Vance visited the San Diego-Tijuana border Friday morning, afforded security that was described as “above and beyond.”
Snipers could be seen on top of a ring of Border Patrol buses that insulated and isolated Vance from view in an area known as “Whiskey 8.”
A Homeland Security helicopter flew overhead providing air cover while members of Mexico’s National Guard were positioned just south of the border, adding yet another layer of protection for Vance.
This is an area where, up until a few months ago, hundreds of migrants gathered daily while waiting for agents to pick them up.
But in recent months, this zone along the border has been relatively quiet as migrant encounters for the entire San Diego Sector have dropped by 50%, 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 from where J.D. Vance spoke during a visit to the San Diego-Tijuana border as U.S. snipers kept an eye on the north side of the border. (Salvador Rivera/Border Report)
Vance spent about 20 minutes at “Whiskey 8” talking with a select group of invited guests, including San Diego Supervisor Jim Desmond.
“I think he’s genuine, I think he’s a good person and he comes off like that to me,” Desmond said.
This was the first time the supervisor had ever 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 impacts to the San Diego County.”
According to Desmond, the two also discussed a migrant drop-off site that has now been closed for the better part of the year.
“I told him that it was costing about a million and a half dollars per month, and that we have also had issues with people being injured, people dropped from this 30-foot fence and at times being killed or sometimes they end up in our hospitals.”
Vance did speak with reporters assigned to his campaign and talked about what former President Donald Trump wants to do along the U.S.-Mexico border if elected president.
“We want to go to war against the Mexican drug cartels, we want to close down the American southern border, reinstitute deportations, we want to stop the insanity at the southern border,” Vance said.
Reporters from the San Diego-Tijuana region were not given access to the vice presidential candidate and were kept about a quarter-mile from the event.
“He talked about Border Patrol agents being allowed to do their jobs,” Desmond said. “We’re all frustrated with the amount of activity we’ve had here in San Diego County. It seems to have waned a little bit, but fact is our border is still wide open. We don’t allow our Border Patrol agents to vet people properly before they come in. That’s what he primarily spoke about today.”
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