In exchange with religious sister, Vance says government tries to strike ‘balance’ on immigration

Vice President JD Vance last week said the federal government is always attempting to strike a “balance” when dealing with mass illegal immigration into the country.

Vance, who is Catholic, was responding to a question from Sister Nancy Sylvester of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary religious order. The exchange took place during an Oct. 17 town hall broadcast on CBS News.

Sister Nancy told the vice president that some of the institute’s sisters minister at the southern border and that they are “constantly seeing families who are affected by our immigration policies,” including through family separations involving young children.

Speaking to Vance as a fellow Catholic, the religious sister asked him: “How would you justify to people of faith, especially those of us who try to follow the Gospel, how the behavior of the [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] men and women can constantly be justified in terms of the kind of values we want to live by?”

Telling Sister Nancy that he would pray for her, Vance responded that the government is “trying to strike the right balance” in its immigration policies.

“When you have a country where…