Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard are at the southern border Wednesday to highlight the Trump administration’s efforts to combat illegal crossings and drug trafficking, the day following President Trump’s joint address to Congress in which immigration played a prominent role.
“Every single day that we continue to keep this border safe, that means less migrant crime, that means less fentanyl coming into our communities, that means more safety and security for the people of the United States of America,” Vance said during a press appearance.
“As President Trump has made clear on the campaign trail and from day one and last night, border security is national security, Hegseth said. “And from the Defense Department, we’ve watched for a couple of decades other people’s borders being secured while ours was open for an invasion of drugs and of violence and of chaos for American communities. That stops under President Trump. And the Defense Department has assets that we can bring to bear — not just troops, not just surveillance, not just equipment, but actual planning capabilities that enhance what Border Patrol is already doing.”
The top administration officials are in the border town of Eagle Pass, Texas, roughly 100 miles west of San Antonio. Vance and Hegseth represent the highest-ranking administration officials to visit the southern border since Mr. Trump’s inauguration. They arrived one day after the Trump administration imposed 25% tariffs on nearly all imported goods from Mexico, citing Mexico’s handling of the situation at the border, a move that sent stocks tumbling.
“We need Mexico and Canada to do much more than they’ve done, and they have to stop the fentanyl and drugs pouring into the USA,” the president said Tuesday night. “They’re going to stop it. I have sent Congress a detailed funding request laying out exactly how we will eliminate these threats to protect our homeland and complete the largest deportation operation in American history.”
