Tim Walz and J.D. Vance: Resolving the Immigration Problem in the Presidency of the November 2016 U.S. Presidential Debate

The NPR Network’s live blog of the VP debate between Tim Walz and JD Vance was the first place where a version of this story appeared. For the latest on the campaign, head to NPR’s Elections page.

Both candidate spokes repeatedly about being in agreement with the other, about a wide range of topics: speeding up the asylum claim system, bringing jobs back to the U.S., doing more to address gun violence, not blaming immigrants for driving up housing prices.

There were some moments of shared humanity between the two candidates in a marked contrast to the previous presidential debates.

The two candidates shook hands many times during the debate, at which point they were joined by their wives. Off-camera, Walz patted Vance on his arm and Vance gave Walz a pat on the back.

In Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance shied away from bombastic untrue claims about immigrants eating people’s pets and instead tackled issues such as the impact of immigrants on U.S.-born worker’s wages.

“You make it harder for illegal aliens to undercut the wages of American workers,” he promised. “A lot of people will go home if they can’t work for less than minimum wage in our own country. That will be a good thing for our workers who just want to get a fair wage, because they are doing a good job.

Vance carefully dodged questions regarding family separation, a policy that caused uproar during former President Donald Trump’s administration. He made a number of false claims about immigration, including that immigrants were responsible for the housing crisis, and that guns are smuggled into the U.S. over the border with Mexico.

Both candidates spoke about fentanyl as related to immigration, which remains a pervasive myth: Fentanyl is overwhelmingly brought into the U.S. by people crossing legally, through ports of entry. Fentanyl is also on the street’s drying up.

For his part, vice presidential candidate Gov. Tim Walz reminded debate viewers of the bipartisan bill that would have strengthened border enforcement. It was killed at the behest of Trump, and Walz repeated the Democratic vow that if elected, Kamala Harris will sign it “on her first day in office.”

Immigration is seen as a weakness for the Democrats, which has caused them to flex their muscles. On her recent trip to the Arizona border, Harrris vowed to “set rules at our border and to enforce them, and I take that responsibility very seriously.”

Still, on several occasions at Tuesday’s debate, Walz was critical of the Republican campaign’s rhetoric on immigration. He felt that he spoke about the immigrants in a negative way.