Vance Says Immigrants Made Us Poorer. His Own Tariffs Raised Prices.

On September 10, 2026, at the Republican Midterm Convention in Dallas, you told the crowd that Americans were tired of being called racist for noticing the country becoming "dirtier and poorer and less safe and less prosperous," blaming immigrant labor for the economic strain facing working families. That claim is an intentional distraction. The clearest, most direct drivers of higher household living costs do not come from low-wage immigrant workers—they stem directly from your own administration's economic policies: 1. Tariffs Function as an Unchecked Consumer Tax: Your administration's sweeping unilateral tariffs operate as an immediate sales tax on everyday goods, raising shelf prices for groceries, vehicles, and household essentials. That is not an unintended side effect; it is the fundamental mechanism of tariff policy. 2. Corporate Monopolies Over Family Budgets: While everyday food and retail conglomerates record historic profit margins, your administration has sidelined antitrust enforcement to prioritize regulatory carve-outs for high-finance backers and family crypto ventures. 3. Deregulation Fueling the Housing Crisis: Federal corporate tax shelters and deregulation have made it easier for private equity firms to buy up single-family home inventory, driving up rent and pricing aspiring homeowners out of communities nationwide.  Higher checkout bills from tariffs, corporate consolidation, and institutional housing buyouts are explicit policy choices enacted by the administration you serve. None of them were created by a line cook, a farmhand, or a construction laborer.  That leaves working families with only two conclusions about your remarks in Dallas: - Option 1: You genuinely believe that low-wage farm and service laborers hold more power over consumer inflation, interest rates, and national housing costs than the federal trade taxes and corporate deregulation your own administration enacted.  - Option 2: You understand economic cause and effect completely, but because your administration cannot justify its cost-of-living record, you are scapegoating immigrant workers to deflect voters' attention from your own failed policies. You cannot claim to champion the American worker while using scapegoats to cover for inflationary economic choices. So which is it, Mr. Vice President: are you economically illiterate, or are you deliberately misleading working families to deflect blame from your administration's failures? We deserve an answer.