A Virginia Democrat’s immigration position has migrated off of his campaign website months after his primary victory and just weeks before Virginia begins early voting.
Eugene Vindman is locked in a toss-up race for an open seat in Northern Virginia’s 7th congressional district, where the issue of immigration has come to the forefront since two Jordanian illegal migrants attempted to breach Marine Corps Base Quantico earlier this year.
In May the two perps posed as Amazon delivery drivers to try to infiltrate the base, which is located in the district where Vindman seeks office. They were released after posting bail earlier this summer.
Vindman’s Republican opponent Derrick Anderson has been vocal about the attempted breach, and called for heightened border security measures following the incident. The Democrat, for his part, has remained silent on both matters.
Incredibly, the Post found that the Vindman campaign also removed “Addressing Immigration” from the issues section of his website, where he offers a spate of policy platforms.
Internet archives reveal that this change was made after Vindman’s victory in June primary. Prior to that, the immigration blurb on the site shared his father’s story of coming to America, while also calling for “fair, safe and strong immigration reforms.”
Vindman, who was born in Ukraine, would be representative of the district he seeks, where the U.S. Census Bureau reports that over 16% of residents are foreign-born.
National Republican Congressional Committee spokeswoman Delanie Bomar told the Post that Vindman “is not serious about securing the border, reducing crimes and ending the flow of fentanyl into Virginia.”
“Derrick Anderson, however, has put his life on the line to secure America,” she continued, adding that the district won’t ever haver to question that the former Green Beret will “fight to secure the border and keep Virginia families safe.”
Vindman gained national attention in 2019 as a whistleblower in the first impeachment attempt against the former president, which was sparked by the Ukrainian-born candidate’s reporting of a phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The Vindman campaign is currently facing an FEC complaint over alleged illegal coordination between his campaign and VoteVets, a PAC run by his twin brother. The complaint followed media scrutiny over the candidate’s military record, which led the campaign to refer journalists’ questions to his brother’s advocacy group. Vindman also declined to participate in a televised debate with his opponent with a local ABC affiliate that covers over three quarters of the 7th congressional district.
Vindman’s campaign did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.
