Indian-origin woman confronts V-P Vance over US immigrants

US Vice-President JD Vance faced a tense moment at a university event when he was questioned by an Indian-origin woman about the Trump administration’s hardline stance on immigration.

Vance addressed students at a ‘Turning Point USA’ event at the University of Mississippi when he was confronted by the woman over immigrants in the US.

Also read: US deports fresh batch of 35 Indians, most of them handcuffed

On immigration, Vance said, “We have to get the overall numbers way, way down.”

'Why did you sell us a dream?'

However, he didn’t talk about the exact number of legal immigrants he thinks should be admitted into the US. He said it’s “far less than what we’ve been accepting.”

The Indian-origin woman asked Vance, “And when you talk about too many immigrants here, when did you guys decide that number? Why did you sell us a dream?”

She added, “How can you as a vice president stand there and say that ‘We have too many of them now, and we are going to take them out’ to people who are here rightfully so by paying the money that you guys asked us? You gave us the path and now how can you stop it and tell us we don’t belong here anymore?”

Her question received applause from the audience and she said she had no intention of causing a scene.

"We are not close to causing a scene. Don't worry," Vance quipped.

He did not offer a direct answer to her question and said, “Just because one person or 10 people or 100 people came in illegally and contributed to the US, does that mean that we are thereby committed to let in a million or 10 million or 100 million people a year in the future? No, that's not right."

Vance speaks on illegal immigration

Vance then spoke on illegal immigration. “I can believe that we should have lower immigration levels, but if the United States passed a law and made a promise to somebody, the United States, of course, has to honour that promise. Nobody’s talking about that.

“I’m talking about people who came in, in violation of the laws of the United States of America. And I’m talking about in the future, reducing the number of people,” Vance said.

He added, “We cannot have an immigration policy where what was good for the country 50 or 60 years ago binds the country inevitably for the future. There’s too many people who want to come to the United States America, and my job as vice president is not to look out for the interests of the whole world. It’s to look out for the people of the United States.”

In US President Donald Trump's second term, his administration has deported thousands of illegal immigrants. According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), more than 2,700 Indians have been deported from the US since January 2025.