Vance defends ICE but says there’s a responsibility to investigate when agents “screw up”

October 16, 2026 / 4:55 PM EDT / CBS News

Washington — Vice President JD Vance acknowledged Thursday that there are some federal immigration officers "who really screw up" and said the Trump administration has a responsibility to take action against those who do.

Vance sat down with "CBS Evening News" anchor Tony Dokoupil for a one-hour town hall in Michigan, which will air Saturday. Michigan is home to one of the closely watched Senate races between Republican Mike Rogers and Democrat Abdul El-Sayed.

During an exchange about immigration, Vance drew comparisons between law enforcement officers and members of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.

"Most of them are amazing people who are patriots and they wanna do a good job protecting their country. Sometimes you have some people who make mistakes. Sometimes you have some people who really screw up," Vance said. "And obviously, we have a responsibility to prosecute, investigate when people do screw up."

Dokoupil pressed the vice president on some of those instances, noting that in some cases, "people talk about them before they're investigated," and he asked Vance about the biggest mistakes involving ICE's immigration actions. Vance declined to single out any incidents but said…

Original source: https://www.cbsnews.com/entertainment/