JD Vance’s home town is bouncing back – and it’s largely thanks to immigrants

Immigrants have played a central role to the revival of Middletown, Ohio, while the vice-president has made criticizing immigrants a main theme of his political career

When Daniel Cardenas from Coahuila, Mexico, first arrived in Middletown, a post-industrial city of 50,000 people in south-west Ohio, he was immediately enamored.

It's a small town with friendly people. You have shops, big stores; there's no traffic," he says.