My Trip With Vice President Vance To The Southern Border

And yes, Vance has seen those memes of him.

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EAGLE PASS, Texas — I was working last week when I got a call from an unsaved number. I know standard practice today is to ignore such calls, but given spam callers are usually labeled as such and because of the business I’m in, I answered.

It was someone from Vice President JD Vance’s office. He was going to the border soon and they wanted me to tag along. By the end of the call, I was very excited for the opportunity.

Covering the border crisis for the past four years has been, to put it mildly, a lot of work. Simply getting down to any part along the southern border can take all day. Then there were the late nights and early mornings to get videos of large groups of illegal immigrants crossing. There’s the long drives from one hotspot to the next and the danger that is ever present in the borderlands.

I did it because it was an important story that the mainstream media, at first, tried to ignore, then downplay when it didn’t go away. I have been to every sector expect for one, from San Diego, California all the way down to Brownsville, Texas.

I did not do it in the hopes of getting the opportunity to go with the vice president, but admittedly, it was nice to know all that hard work had not gone unnoticed.

We started the day early at Joint Base Andrews. Even though we were taking one of the smaller versions of Air Force Two, the flight was packed because it was not just Vance traveling, but also Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. The chief of Border Patrol, the acting commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, and a host of staff were also on board.

The trip was a show of force to make clear that after four years of an invasion at the behest of the Biden-Harris administration, the border crisis was finally over thanks to President Donald Trump. Illegal border crossings are down nearly 95%. With previous highs of 10,000-15,000 daily illegal crossings, the entire southern border is now seeing barely 300 illegal crossings a day. The Del Rio Sector, where we visited, is seeing an average of 30 a day.

With the success at the border, I was able to ask Vance what he thinks is the biggest obstacle to carrying out Trump’s mass deportations.

“So, first of all, Rome wasn't built in a day, and we have seen pretty significant increases in deportations and apprehensions and arrests. But we have to remember that President Biden gutted the entire immigration enforcement regime of this country. We are trying to rebuild so that we actually empower people to enforce the immigration laws of the American people. It is common sense,” Vance said.

He also hinted at forthcoming action by the Trump administration to encourage illegal immigrants in the United States to self-deport to their country of origin:

“There are a couple of other things that we're working on, and I don't want to get ahead of any public announcements, but, you know, one of the ways that we wanted to — to make sure that we're enforcing our border is that we make it easier for people who are here illegally to go back home of their own accord. We don't want to have to go around and arrest every person, but we will enforce the American people's immigration laws. If you're here illegally, the message from our administration is: You should go back home, and if you want to come to the United States, apply through the proper channels.”

Overall, it was a great trip. It was my first time on Air Force Two and it was nice being able to take a direct flight to the border, instead of two flights and a two-hour car drive.

It was on Air Force Two on the way back to Joint Base Andrews where I got the opportunity to ask him about the memes. If you’ve been on X or Instagram, they are hard to miss. It’s basically become a competition to see who can make the most ridiculous edit of his face while still being able to tell it’s Vance.

We all know Vance is very much on social media, so it was safe to assume he has seen the memes, but we had to get confirmation.

Sure enough, when I asked if he had seen the pictures, he just started laughing and said, “How can I not see them!”

He said he thought the trend was funny and as long as it was organic and people were having fun, that’s all that mattered.

The plane we took for Air Force Two was nice, if a bit dated. The food was good as well.

After we landed back in Maryland, I was able to talk with Secretary Hegseth to see if I can do some embeds with the U.S. military at the border, along with other ideas. I’m happy to say those requests are now in the works to be fulfilled, so stay tuned.