Vice President JD Vance was pressed on President Donald Trump’s main agenda when he asked students at the University of Mississippi.
At the Turning Point USA event, one attendee asked Vance about the administration’s increased crackdown on immigration. The vice president previously advocated slowing legal immigration, telling the crowd, “We have to get the overall numbers down.”
The contestant first pointed to Vance’s wife, Usha, who is Hindu while being Christian, and asked how he “balances” teaching his three children about his “cross-cultural, racial and religious household.”
“And when you talk about too many immigrants here, when did you guys decide on that number? Why did you sell us the dream?” asked the participant.
The person continued: “You made us spend our youth, wealth in this country and gave us a dream. You don’t owe us anything. We worked hard for it. Then how can you as the vice president stand and say there are too many of them now and we’re going to take them out to people who are here legally so paying them the money you gave them and now you asked how can you do this to us? you don’t belong here anymore?”
As Vance prepared to answer, the participant continued to ask another question, noting that it was said “with due respect.”
“Why do we make Christianity one of the most important things you have to have to be one of you, to show that I love America as much as you do. Why is this still a question? Why do I have to be a Christian?” asked the participant.
Vance, who admitted that “there was a lot to answer for,” tried to answer.
“First of all, I can believe that the immigration rate should be lower, but if the United States passes a law and makes a promise to someone, of course the United States has to keep that promise,” Vance said. “Nobody’s talking about that. I’m talking about people who came in violation of the laws of the United States of America. And I’m talking about the future, depopulation, depopulation.”
A participant interjected, “Can I go on with this? Because when you just said you don’t stop with people who came here legally, it’s true, and you’re pushing policies that hurt us, and these policies don’t even solve the problems. These policies just create chaos.”
“No, no, ma’am. Okay, so again, I’m going to finish answering the question, and then if, you know, if I’ve answered all nine of your questions in less than 15 minutes, we can continue,” Vance said to applause from the audience. “We need to have some fun, right?”
He added: “So here’s the thing. I can believe that the United States should reduce its immigration levels in the future while respecting that there are people who came here through legal immigration routes who have contributed to the country. Millions of people a year. No, that’s not right.”
Vance did not provide an exact figure for how many legal immigrants should be admitted to the country, but emphasized that it is “far less than we are admitting.” He also criticized former President Joe Biden’s administration over its immigration policies, which he described as a threat to the identity of the United States.
“When something like this happens, you have to allow your society to come together a little bit, to create a sense of common identity so that all the newcomers — those who are going to stay — assimilate into American culture,” Vance said. “My view is that until you do that, you have to be cautious about any additional immigration.”
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