More development, fewer undocumented immigrants: Vance outlines housing plan in Las Vegas

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. J.D. Vance told a rally in Las Vegas that a Trump-Vance administration would fix Nevada’s housing crisis by deporting illegal immigrants and building “millions of new homes.”

“We want American homes to go to American citizens,” Vance told the crowd of several hundred during a morning rally at the Treasure Island.

Nevadans put a lack of affordable housing as a top issue, and with less than two weeks to go until the Nov. 5 election, campaigns have made efforts to highlight their plans.

Vance told the crowd a Trump-Vance administration would build “millions of new homes,” by expanding oil drilling to lower costs. He said the administration would stop “ridiculous regulations” that make it more difficult for construction companies to build homes and open up more of Nevada’s federal land to housing in a responsible way.

“It doesn’t matter how many homes you build, my friends,” he said. “If you let in millions upon millions of illegal aliens who shouldn’t be here, we’re not going to have enough homes for our people.”

He said Nevada has a shortage of about 70,000 affordable housing units. Families should be able to get affordable housing but can’t because of Harris’ policies, Vance said.

Vance said he thinks illegal immigration is the biggest driver in unaffordable housing. His and Trump’s approach is “American homes for American citizens,” he said, receiving applause from the crowd.

One main part of the administration’s housing plans involve immigration, an issue the Trump campaign has prioritized on the campaign trail.

Vance said thousands of kids who are the children of illegal immigrants are in Nevada’s public schools, which forces teachers to “focus on kids who don’t even speak English,” giving Nevada children the short end of the stick, he said.

An estimated 168,000 unauthorized people live in Nevada, according to the Migration Policy Institute. About 9,000 are children who attend public school. Fifty-nine percent don’t have access to health insurance, and 32 percent are homeowners.

“We are making our own citizens poorer, less safe, less healthy and less prosperous because Kamala Harris cares more about illegal immigrants than she does about the citizens of the state of Nevada,” Vance said.

Response to immigrant message

Vance’s message resonates with some voters. Polls show immigration as one of the top issues important to Nevada voters, and the Trump campaign has made the issue the No. 1 talking point on the campaign trail.

Las Vegas resident Sandie Hernandez said illegal immigrants are “taking over.”

“The border is killing us, and we’re just sick and tired of people coming over the border who are not citizens, and they’re getting everything,” Hernandez said.

Erika Marquez, immigrant justice organizer for Make the Road Action Nevada, said Vance’s claims about undocumented immigrants are not true.

“We aren’t stealing or taking away housing,” said Marquez, who is a recipient of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and a mother of four.

There is not enough housing in Nevada because corporations continue to make prices too high for anyone to be able to afford, she said.

Marquez has talked to many other people who are undocumented who “have unfortunately gone through a lot of hardship and injustice” because of their immigration status.

Corporations that own apartment complexes will raise prices from $1,200 a month to $1,700 a month, a hard jump for people to afford, Marquez said. Some people who are undocumented house two families in the same apartment because they can’t afford the rent, and sometimes they pay a lot more because they don’t have all of their documentation, Marquez said.

“These companies, these apartment complexes, will go ahead and take advantage of it, and they will charge us fees after fees after fees because we can’t sometimes show where our funds come from,” Marquez said. “Sometimes we’re doing cash work.”

Leading in early voting

At the rally Nevada Republicans expressed excitement over leading in early voting turnout by 35,000 votes, a change from past elections where Democrats previously led. Democratic voters are leading in returning mail ballots.

“I can’t tell you how significant it is that we have a lead in the early voting,” said Republican Senate candidate Sam Brown. Republicans can’t allow what happened in 2022 again, where a red wave in Nevada didn’t really materialize, because they didn’t go out to vote, Brown said.

State Republican Party Chairman Michael McDonald said he never voted early, but will vote early for the first time in his life tomorrow to make sure his vote counts. McDonald, who had played a critical role in trying to overturn election results in 2020 for Donald Trump, continued to reference claims of a fraudulent election.

“They can only cheat so much,” McDonald said.

Vance also expressed confidence in Nevada turning red for Trump. He asked supporters to tell others why they’re voting for Trump and to visit the website “swampthevoteusa.com.”

“I don’t want to just win, I want to win by such a big margin that we’re going to bed early on Tuesday night,” he said.

Vance said usually Republicans go on Election Day to vote, but this year they have a chance to go into Election Day already with a lead by voting any means possible, whether that’s voting early, by mail or on Election Day.

“You don’t have to love everything about our election system,” he said. “I don’t, but we’ve got to play the game by the rules that have been given to us, and if we do that, my friends, we’re going to win.”

An earlier version of this story misstated the quantity of homes and immigrants Vance discussed in his speech.