Vice President JD Vance advocated a slowdown in legal immigration Wednesday, saying, “We have to get the overall numbers way, way down."
Vance took questions from students at the University of Mississippi at an event organized by Turning Point USA, stepping into the role of debater that was so often performed by the organization's slain founder, Charlie Kirk.
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Vance said the optimal number of legal immigrants to admit is “far less than what we've been accepting," but he did not offer a firm number when pressed by a woman who questioned his stance. He criticized former President Joe Biden's immigration policies, which he said allowed too many people into the country and threatened the social fabric of the United States.
“When something like that happens, you’ve got to allow your own society to cohere a little bit, to build a sense of common identity, for all the newcomers — the ones who are going to stay — to assimilate into American culture,” Vance said. “Until you do that, you’ve got to be careful about any additional immigration, in my view.”
Vance also spoke forcefully about avoiding American deaths in “unnecessary foreign conflicts," touting President Donald Trump's Middle East diplomacy and the strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, even as the U.S. steps up military pressure on Venezuela and strikes boats that the Trump administrations says are transporting drugs.
Asked whether Trump's deployment of the National Guard to Democratic-led cities will lead to a future president using that government power against conservatives, he said his allies shouldn't be worried about Trump's exercise of executive power. He justified Trump's targeting of his political enemies by pointing to his arrest during Biden's administration. He was charged with illegally keeping classified documents after his first term and attempting to subvert the 2020 election he lost, but the charges were dismissed after he was elected to his second term a year ago.
“We cannot be afraid to do something because the left might do it in the future,” Vance said. “The left is already going to do it regardless of whether we do it.”
Vance was introduced by Kirk's widow, Erika Kirk, in one of her first public appearances since she took over her husband's role leading Turning Point.
“Being on campus right now, for me, is a spiritual reclaiming of territory,” she said, reflecting on Kirk's love of visiting universities and his mission to move campuses to the right.
Wearing a white “freedom” shirt like the one her husband wore when he was shot, Erika Kirk urged young Christian conservatives to courageously fight for their beliefs and not fear the social consequences.
“If you’re worried about losing a friend—I lost my friend,” she said. “I lost my best friend.”