Fact check: Vance says 'Biden's open border' means more Democratic voters

Ohio Republican Senate candidate J.D. Vance is hitting President Joe Biden over border policies in an ad that suggests immigrants who illegally cross the border are boosting the Democratic Party.

"Are you a racist? Do you hate Mexicans?" Vance asks in a TV ad. "The media calls us racist for wanting to build Trump’s wall. They censor us, but it doesn’t change the truth. Joe Biden’s open border is killing Ohioans with more illegal drugs and more Democrat voters pouring into this country." Vance then cites his mother’s drug addiction from the "poison coming across our border."

"That’s blatantly inaccurate for a whole lot of reasons, the main one being it's just not true," said Mike Madrid, an anti-Trump Republican strategist.

"It makes no sense what he is saying," said Chuck Rocha, a Democrat strategist. "He wants people to think Mexicans are walking across the border and filling out paperwork and they are handed a Democrat voter ID card. That’s the worst stereotype."

We asked Vance’s campaign for evidence and did not receive a response. Vance is competing in a crowded May 3 Republican primary as a result of the planned retirement of Sen. Rob Portman. On the Democratic side, U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan is running against consumer protection attorney Morgan Harper. Early voting is underway.

There is not an "open border" between the U.S. and Mexico.

Fact check: Was the U.S. economy 'dead in the water' before Biden took over?

But once Title 42 is lifted, that doesn’t create an "open border" that would allow anyone to walk across the border and remain in the country legally. Instead, it means that the country returns to how it handled immigrants entering the country illegally before the pandemic, a longer process that includes expedited removals, placing people into long-term removal proceedings, or some migrants leaving voluntarily or going through the asylum process.

These laws and procedures "are not particular to Joe Biden or the Democrats," said Ron Hayduk, a San Francisco State professor who teaches courses on elections and immigration.

Cases of fraudulent voting by noncitizens do happen occasionally, but they are often the result of misunderstandings or errors.

Rutgers University professor Lorraine Minnite previously told us that the most common problem she has seen on the issue is noncitizens getting accidentally registered to vote when they go to the Department of Motor Vehicles. But the number of people who fall into this category is "miniscule," she said. Minnite told us that Vance’s comments are a "delusion."

PolitiFact has fact-checked several similar claims from Trump and others — all inaccurate — about immigrants voting illegally in the 2008, 2016 and 2018 elections.

Fact-checking Budd's tweet about McCrory tie to judge in redistricting case

Voting by noncitizens carries high risks – they may face deportation or incarceration, or it may thwart their efforts when applying for naturalization.

The process of becoming a citizen — and therefore earning the right to register to vote — can take a decade or longer.

"Even if many of these people found a path to legal status via asylum or other means, it would be many, many years before they would become eligible to vote given both the huge backlogs in adjudicating cases in immigration court and the fact that people spend years on a green card before being eligible for citizenship," said Michelle Mittelstadt, spokesperson for the Migration Policy Institute.

But it’s "ridiculous" to make assumptions about how immigrants crossing the border now will vote in 20 years if they gain citizenship, Madrid said.

Vance said that "Joe Biden’s open border" means that there are "more Democrat voters pouring into this country."

The border is not open. The majority of immigrants encountered by border agents have been expelled recently by the use of a public health order put in place by Trump. Even when that order, Title 42, is lifted in May, that won’t create an "open" border — the federal government will respond to immigrants arriving in the U.S. illegally using its laws and decades-old processes that include removal, court hearings and, for those who are eligible, the asylum process.

Vance’s ad creates an impression that immigrants are crossing the Mexican border illegally and then turning into Democrat voters. That’s wrong. Only U.S. citizens can vote in federal elections, and proven incidents of noncitizens casting ballots are rare. Even migrants who cross the border now and go through the process of gaining citizenship won’t be able to vote for over a decade or longer.

We rate this statement False.