JD Vance visits US-Mexico border, says Trump admin hopes to complete border wall 'by the end of the term'

On Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth visited the southern border in Texas. Echoing President Donald Trump’s statement during his address to Congress the night before, Vance said, "we didn't need new laws. We didn't need fancy legislation. We just needed a new President of the United States" to get the border crisis under control.

During questions from reporters, Vance said "I think the President's hope is that by the end of the term, we build the entire border wall." He noted technological advances, including the use of cameras, to detect those approaching the border, and that "we’ve got to make sure that technology is deployed across the entire American southern border."

Vance said in a press conference the "most heartening message that I take away from my visit here at the Texas border is the number of Border Patrol agents who have come up to me and said thank you, or said because of this, we've cut the number of border crossings from 1500 a day to 30 a day, or the people who have come up and said, we've seen a reduction in 85 percent of the number of people who are dying at the American southern border."

"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. 

He explained his reasoning in bringing the Secretary of Defense and the Director of National Intelligence on the trip, saying, "unfortunately, we know that because of what's happened, the border crisis has become a matter of national intelligence, and it's also become something that requires the Department of Defense to engage with."

Hegseth said the visit was a "demonstration of true partnership on the southern border," and that for decades, the Department of Defense has seen "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." He said that "more resources are coming to this border" and "we are dedicated to securing it."

Gabbard noted that "21 million have come across our borders illegally under Joe Biden," not being vetted and officials unsure of where they are now. She cited as an example over 4,000 people who crossed the border "using an ISIS-affiliated network," with "hundreds of them" being "known terrorists or associated with known terrorists."

She said that just over 100 of these people were arrested in 2024, and just eight of them were deported or remain in custody. "Where are they? What are they doing? What may they be plotting? This is just the beginning."

On tariffs being levied against Mexico and how the country could bring an end to them, Vance said, "We need a sustained commitment from the government of Mexico to take the job of border security seriously. Fentanyl is the single largest cause of death among young Americans, and we know that a substantial portion of it is, you know, the precursors are made in China. They come to Mexico. They're manufactured in Mexico and brought across the border by the Mexican drug cartels."