MINNEAPOLIS (EXCLUSIVE) — Vice President JD Vance told the Washington Examiner that the Trump administration will take disciplinary action “when justified” against Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers who make “mistakes” effectuating President Donald Trump’s deportation agenda.
The vice president sat with the Washington Examiner for a half-hour interview while flying from Toledo, Ohio, to Minneapolis, Minnesota on Thursday morning. In Toledo, Vance likened ICE officers to local law enforcement officers, the overwhelming majority of whom he characterized as good actors, but conceded that sometimes “mistakes” are made on the job.
In the interview, the Washington Examiner posed to Vance that “law enforcement takes accountability for their mistakes” and that officers face “repercussions” for their actions. The Washington Examiner asked Vance directly if the Trump administration will hand down repercussions to ICE officers over misuses of force or the accidental arrests of American citizens in an effort to “limit” those mistakes or “eliminate them entirely.”
“Well, first of all, you’re never going to eliminate, entirely, mistakes,” Vance responded. “You’re talking about human beings. It’s going to happen at the local level. It’s going to happen at the federal level, you know?
“That’s not to say that we’re — you can acknowledge that mistakes sometimes happen while also acknowledging that 99% of our ICE officers are doing the right thing. They’re doing a very tough job in Minneapolis. They’re doing a tough job in incredibly difficult circumstances. I would say the same of police officers.”
The Washington Examiner reiterated that “bad actors” still face repercussions over their mistakes, a point which Vance agreed with.
“Certainly, when we have any accusation of wrongdoing, we investigate, we look into it,” he continued. “If we think that there are disciplinary actions justified, then, of course, we’re going to take those disciplinary actions.”
Vance did specify that the administration would both try to limit “mistakes” and “defend people who were doing their job in incredibly tough circumstances.”
“You can do both of those things at the same time,” the vice president said. “I also think that what we’re trying to do is actually make it easier for these guys to do their job.”
Vance’s comments mark a slight departure from administration officials’ previous comments on the subject. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt berated a reporter last week for suggesting that ICE agents have made mistakes on the job. Vance himself suggested during a press briefing one day after an ICE officer shot and killed Renee Good in Minneapolis that ICE officers have “absolute immunity” while carrying out federal law enforcement proceedings. White House officials have since clarified that Vance’s statement on immunity referenced qualified immunity and that, since the incident involved a federal agent, it should be handled by the federal government, not state or local officials.
At a press conference in Minneapolis Thursday afternoon, Vance was pressed by local media to square his in his interview with Washington Examiner with those he made during the previous press briefing.
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“No, I didn’t say, and I don’t think any other official within the Trump administration said, that officers who engage in wrongdoing would enjoy immunity. That’s absurd. What I did say is that when federal law enforcement officers violate the law that is typically something that federal officials will look into,” he told reporters when asked about his previous comments. “We want them to actually have real due process, a real investigation because, again, sometimes when they’re accused of wrong doing, it turns out when you learn the context, they didn’t actually do anything wrong, but of course we’re going to investigate these things.”
