Vice President Mike Pence and his wife met with leaders of Chabad of Poway Thursday during a day-long official visit to the San Diego area.
“Karen and I were honored to stop by the Chabad of Poway, the site of a terrible shooting in April,” Pence tweeted after the meeting. “No one should fear in a house of worship. We will always condemn evil acts of anti-Semitism.”
Lori Gilbert Kaye, 60, was killed in the April 27 shooting, which occurred on the last day of the Jewish holiday of Passover. Senior Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein and two other people were injured.
Pence told Goldstein “your faith and courage are an inspiration to the nation.”
Earlier the Pences toured Naval Amphibious Base Coronado where SEAL teams train, and boarded the Coast Guard Cutter Munro as it offloaded 39,000 pounds of cocaine from drug seizures in the eastern Pacific.
“The Coast Guard is seizing illegal drugs at a faster rate than ever before,” Pence told the crew of the Munro. “And you all have been at the tip of the spear, making that happen.”
Pence warned that drug smuggling and an overwhelmed immigration system were interrelated challenges for the United States.
“Every day that our southern border remains unsecured gives criminal syndicates and drug traffickers more opportunity to peddle their poison and spread the violence that’s cut short too many American lives,” he said.
“This President and this administration are determined and will not rest until we secure our southern border and we end the crisis at our southern border once and for all.”