‘Send Usha Vance back’: X user hits out at JD Vance after senator’s hardline immigration remark

A sharp political back-and-forth erupted on X after Senator JD Vance responded to a viral post claiming tougher ICE activity in Louisiana had discouraged migrant labour.

The original clip, shared by ICE of TikTok, featured a construction company owner saying that with ICE visible in the state again, “no immigrants want to go to work,” adding he had received more job inquiries in the past week than in the previous three months.

Reacting to that post, Vance doubled down on his long-held opposition to immigration, writing, “Mass migration is theft of the American Dream. It has always been this way, and every position paper, think tank piece, and econometric study suggesting otherwise is paid for by the people getting rich off of the old system.”

The remark triggered an immediate wave of criticism writer and commentator Wajahat Ali, who invoked Vance’s own family background. In a pointed reply, Ali said Vance’s logic would require him to “send Usha, her Indian family, and your biracial kids back to India,” adding, “let us know when you buy the plane tickets” and “lead by example.”

Usha Vance is an accomplished attorney and the wife of JD Vance. She is the daughter of Indian immigrants, a Yale Law School graduate, and has worked in both corporate and public-interest legal roles. Because Vance’s anti-immigration rhetoric contrasts sharply with his personal life, critics often cite his marriage to highlight what they see as hypocrisy in his stance.