CLAIM: Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) said some migrant children are “used as drug trafficking mules” during Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate.
VERDICT: TRUE. A law enforcement official explained to Vance at an event last month that drug traffickers, when traveling by vehicle, make children play roles in their “story” in case authorities engage them.
Early on in the debate, Vance said that some migrant children “have been used as drug trafficking mules,” drawing one from the many indirect fact checks of the evening from the CBS News moderators, who served up a response for Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) to falsely claim Vance was lying.
“Governor, do you care to respond to any of those specific allegations, including that the Vice President is ‘letting in fentanyl’ and ‘using kids as drug mules,’ among other things,” Margaret Brennan asked Walz.
“Yeah, well, the drug mules is not true,” Walz claimed.
In reality, a law enforcement official explained to Vance in Georgia last month that traffickers will carry things like fishing rods in the car with children while they are transporting drugs and incorporate children into a false story as a decoy, as Breitbart News reported. They also discussed drugs being sold that are disguised as children’s candy.
The official then explained to Vance that the traffickers often use children as part of a “story” in the car to mask that they are trafficking. In one case, he said they had kids holding fishing poles to make it look like they were going on vacation, and, in another, they made it look like they were a family going on a vacation to nearby Disney World.
“When you think about what it takes to manufacture hardcore drugs that look like children’s candy, there’s something wrong with you,” Vance said.
WATCH:
Matthew Boyle / Breitbart News
On Tuesday night, Vance had the final word on children being used as drug mules during his rebuttal.
“I didn’t accuse Kamala Harris of inviting drug mules. I said that she enabled the Mexican drug cartels to operate freely in this country, and we know that they use children as drug mules, and it is a disgrace, and it has to stop,” he said.