In response to Vivek Ramaswamy’s visit to the border today, DNC spokesperson Sarafina Chitika released the following statement:

“Vivek Ramaswamy’s political stunt at the border today is another desperate attempt to out-MAGA the Republican field and revive his dying campaign. Ramaswamy’s entire bit is clinging to Donald Trump and his MAGA agenda and this issue is no different – he is running on an extreme, unpopular immigration agenda that is based on fear mongering, not solutions.” 

Ramaswamy’s immigration agenda includes his extreme and possibly unconstitutional plan to end birthright citizenship and deport American-born children of undocumented immigrants.

Ramaswamy: “I want to be very clear about this. I think that birthright citizenship does not and should not apply to the kids of parents who entered this country illegally.”

NBC News: “Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy says that as president, he would deport American-born children of undocumented immigrants. ‘The family unit will be deported,’ said Ramaswamy when asked by NBC News if the deportations would include American-born children, after a packed town hall here Friday.”

Ramaswamy supports using the U.S. military to attack Mexican drug cartels, which would have negative implications for our national security and immigration system while still failing to address key problems.

Ramaswamy: “‘I’ve said that not only will we use the military to secure our own southern border, we will go further,’ he said. ‘If we can use our military to take out [Osama] bin Laden or [Ayman] al-Zawahiri or [Qasem] Soleimani or ISIS somewhere else in some other part of the world, then we are ready to use our military to annihilate the Mexican drug cartels south of our own border.’”

Ramaswamy: “I think that building the wall is not and has not been enough… I would use our own military to secure our own southern border… In fact, I think it’s going to be an approach that we will eventually need to seal our own northern border as well.”

Washington Post: “Ramaswamy has vowed to ‘use our military to annihilate Mexican drug cartels.’ This position is similar to those of most of the other GOP presidential candidates, including Trump and DeSantis.”

Politico: “Should the U.S. launch military operations in Mexico, a crush of people would find their way to U.S. ports of entry seeking asylum and their claims would be stronger by fleeing an active war zone involving U.S.-labeled terrorists.  ‘You’ve just legitimately made it harder to send thousands of people back,’ the House GOP staffer said.”

Politico: “The second issue is that while using force against drug cartels might impact the supply side of the fentanyl crisis, it doesn’t address demand. And past examples of the U.S. military working with a nation to combat drug groups, like in Colombia, were successful, in part, because the host country was committed to the fight and conducted the operations.”

The Hill: “But a century of progress could be erased overnight, a Mexican official told The Hill.  ‘Any military intervention in Mexico would be a monumental setback for the U.S. and would derail the bilateral relationship. It can destroy the North American trading bloc and worsen the security situation, triggering a wave of migration in the region.’”

Ramaswamy has even pushed for redirecting military resources away from our allies to the Southern border.

Bret Baier: “Mr. Ramaswamy, you would not support an increase of funding to Ukraine?” 

Ramaswamy: “I would not and I think that this is disastrous that we’re protecting against an invasion across somebody else’s border when we should use those same military resources to prevent across the invasion of our own southern border here in the United States of America.”

Ramaswamy wants to eliminate the H-1B visa system for skilled workers, even though his own company frequently utilized and benefitted from the program.

Ramaswamy: “Yet, the H-1B system is ‘bad for everyone involved… The lottery system needs to be replaced by actual meritocratic admission. It’s a form of indentured servitude that only accrues to the benefit of the company that sponsored an H-1B immigrant. I’ll gut it.”

Politico: “GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has vowed to ‘gut’ the system for H-1B temporary worker visas if he wins the White House. It’s the very system he’s used in the past to hire high-skilled foreign workers for the pharma company that built much of his wealth. From 2018 through 2023, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services approved 29 applications for Ramaswamy’s former company, Roivant Sciences, to hire employees under H-1B visas, which allow U.S. companies to employ foreign workers in tech and other specialized jobs.”