U.S. Vice President JD Vance has reiterated the Trump administration’s hardline stance on immigration, warning that green card holders and foreign students could be deported if deemed a threat to national interests.
Speaking on Fox News on Thursday, Vance stressed that holding a green card does not guarantee permanent residency, adding that the administration is ramping up deportation efforts as part of broader immigration enforcement.
“A green card holder doesn’t have an indefinite right to be in the United States,” Vance stated.
He emphasized that the decision to remove individuals from the country would not be limited to national security concerns but would also reflect who Americans believe should be part of their national community.
“This is not fundamentally about free speech. Yes, it’s about national security, but it’s also, more importantly, about who we, as an American public, decide gets to join our national community.”
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Vance added that if the Secretary of State and the President determine that a person should not be in the U.S., they could be removed.
“And if the Secretary of State and the President decide this person shouldn’t be in America, and they have no legal right to stay here, it’s as simple as that.”
Vance also suggested that some foreign students could face deportation if authorities decide their presence is not beneficial to the U.S.
“I think we’ll certainly see some people who get deported on student visas if we determine that it’s not in the best interest of the United States to have them in our country,” he said.
Beyond security concerns, the Vice President criticized the large number of international students at top American universities, claiming they take opportunities away from qualified American students.
“A lot of these foreign students, most of them, pay full freight. So sometimes what you have at elite universities like Columbia or Harvard is a well-qualified middle-class American kid from the heartland who doesn’t get a spot because some Chinese oligarch, who is paying $100,000 a year, takes up that spot,” Vance argued.
His comments reflect the administration’s broader push to reshape U.S. immigration policies, focusing on reducing the number of foreign nationals in key sectors such as education and employment.