JD Vance says border policy would be "a giant welcome mat for the drug cartels"

At an October 14 campaign rally in Texas for Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton, Vice President JD Vance announced that the Trump administration, using the Defense Production Act, would expand Delek's refinery in Tyler. Vance said the work would create jobs in Smith County and lower families' fuel and travel costs, but he did not provide the project's price or the size of the capacity increase; the refinery processes roughly 74,000 barrels daily. The administration has turned to a law dating from the Cold War for energy projects as rising fuel costs strain budgets before the November 3 midterms. Vance criticized Democrat James Talarico, claiming he held the oil and gas sector in contempt, opposed a mandatory ten-year term for people who smuggle migrants, and would allow border conditions that benefit drug trafficking groups. Energy costs are a campaign issue.