Imagine for a second that you are here living in the United States without legal permission. What’s the number one thing that can fuck up your world? Obviously, it’s interaction with legal authorities who will demand to see your documentation. Are you more or less likely than a U.S. citizen to exceed the speed limit? Are you more or less likely to shoplift? Are you more or less likely to do a snatch and grab robbery on the street. To truth is, you want to keep your head down and avoid attention. That’s why it’s no surprise that studies show that undocumented immigrants are less likely to commit crimes, including violent felonies, than legal immigrants or citizens. They have too much to lose. An arrest could lead to deportation not only for themselves but for other members of their family.

But that’s not what Donald Trump says. During his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, he claimed:

“The greatest invasion in history is taking place right here in our country — they are coming in from every corner of the earth, not just from South America, but from Africa, Asia and the Middle East — they’re coming from everywhere, and this administration does nothing to stop them. They are coming from prisons and jails, from mental institutions and insane asylums, and terrorists at levels never seen before.”

The New York Times reports that “June had the lowest monthly total for illegal crossings since January 2021,” and fact-checkers find no evidence “to support that other countries are sending their murderers, drug dealers and other criminals to the U.S.” He’s just lying.

But notice something else. He’s complaining about immigrants coming from every continent except Europe and Antartica, where only penguins and researchers live. His fans waved “Mass Deportations Now!” signs at the convention, but they weren’t concerned about either Belgians or penguins. They’re convinced that there’s a conspiracy to replace white people with non-white people, and they want non-white people tossed out of the country by the millions. This very much includes Indians from the subcontinent. And that’s why there is so much anger from the right that J.D. Vance was selected as Trump’s running mate.

The problem is Vance’s wife and kids.

The wife of Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance, Usha Chilukuri Vance, and the couple’s children have become the targets of backlash for their Indian ancestry.

Chilukuri Vance, the daughter of Indian immigrants who grew up in San Diego, as well as RNC speaker Harmeet Dhillon — who is Sikh and Indian – are facing anti-Asian hate from far-right figures online.

Posts appear to have spiked this week following Vance’s nomination criticizing Vance for marrying someone who is non-white, expressing concerns about an influx of Indian immigrants as a result and the so-called Great Replacement conspiracy have garnered hundreds of thousands of views according to individual post engagement figures.

It’s similar to criticism made of Kamala Harris who also has Indian ancestry. This reminds me of the cognitive dissonance I have understanding how Stephen Miller, a Jew who grew up in Santa Monica, California, became Trump’s point man for mass deportation programs. J.D. Vance has joined a fascist movement that considers intermarriage between whites and non-whites as part of a sinister plot to destroy the white race. They want his wife and kids deported, and they consider him part of the problem. How can he sleep at night? How can he face his wife and kids and say he’s doing what’s best for them and people like them?

I have no earthly clue how to answer that question. Being vice-president of the United States is certainly an alluring prospect, but it shouldn’t be attractive under these circumstances.

There are a lot of reasons to question Vance’s character, but this is right at the top of the list.