Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence said Tuesday he is baffled by the backlash from Donald Trump Jr.'s Skittles comment regarding immigration.
"It's remarkable to me to see the level of outrage about a metaphor used by [Donald Trump Jr.] when Hillary Clinton is calling for a 550 percent increase in the Syrian refugee program," Pence told MSNBC.
"All the while, our FBI and public safety officials tell us that we can't know for sure who those people are coming into this country."
On Monday night, Trump Jr. tweeted an image of a bowl of skittles that fired up those who are in favor of resettling refugees from Syria into the United States.
Skittles, for its part, distanced itself from the comments. Parent company Wrigley said:
"Skittles are candy. Refugees are people. We don't feel it's an appropriate analogy. We will respectfully refrain from further commentary as anything we say could be misinterpreted as marketing."
Donald Trump the presidential candidate gave a speech Monday in which he linked immigration and national security together.
"Let me state very, very clearly: immigration security is national security," Trump said.