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US Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday showered praise on his Indian-origin in-laws, saying they exemplify how immigrants have “enriched” the United States, prioritising American interests above all else.
Speaking at an event at the University of Georgia, Vance, who is married to Usha Vance, whose family traces its roots to Andhra Pradesh, also criticised the misuse of the H-1B visa programme, while acknowledging the contributions of immigrants like his in-laws.
"I think there is a lot of fraud in the H-1B system. And I, I think you can, you can believe, on the one hand, that there's a lot of fraud in the H-1B system, while also believing that there are people who have come to the United States in the past who have enriched this country," Vance said.
"And look, I, I, I'm married to the daughter of immigrants from India and, you know, I, I love my in-laws, and they're great people and they've been great contributors to the United States of America," he added.
The remarks came in response to a question from an Indian-origin attendee at a Turning Point USA event, who highlighted prolonged green card wait times for families on H-1B visas. She described the challenges faced by her family, which has lived in the United States for over a decade but continues to face delays due to country-based quotas and processing backlogs.
Vance said that becoming an American citizen comes with a responsibility to put the country first, regardless of one’s background.
"I think that when you become an American citizen, whether your family is 9 generations of lineage in the United States or whether your family has 0 generations of lineage in the United States, one of the responsibilities that we must expect of citizens ...that you have to think about the best interest of the country and not the country you came from beforehand and not of any sort of any, any group that you came from, you've got to think of yourself as an American," he said.
He also cited his father-in-law as an example of this outlook, describing him as an “amazing guy” who consistently placed American interests first.
"My father-in-law, who came from India, who moved to the United States, who, who got an education and, and became an American citizen, never once, never once in my life has he ever said, you have to do this, or you should do this because it's in the best interest of the country that I came from," Vance said.
According to the Vice President, such an attitude "makes Americans feel welcoming towards people because everybody, again, whether your family's been here for 300 years or one year. To be an American means looking out for Americans first and that's the perspective we have to take to our immigration policy."
The remarks come as the Donald Trump administration adopts a stricter approach to immigration and citizenship. In January, the number of detainees in the custody of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement surpassed 70,000 for the first time in the agency’s history, according to Department of Homeland Security data.
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Published On:
Apr 15, 2026 09:24 IST
