Authored by Victoria Friedman via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Vice President JD Vance on Oct. 29 said that the rate of legal immigration should be slowed down, saying too many people have been allowed into the United States, undercutting American wages and challenging social cohesion.

“Right now, we have let in too many immigrants into the United States of America. That is just a fundamental reality, now,” the vice president said.

Vance made the remarks while taking questions from students after delivering a speech at the University of Mississippi during a Turning Point USA event, stepping into the role of debater, which had been performed by the organization’s late founder, Charlie Kirk.

“I think the evidence is pretty clear that a lot of those immigrants are actually undercutting the wages of American workers,” he said, adding that was one of the reasons that President Donald Trump and others in his administration have encouraged H-1B visa reform.

He said that while some immigrants can enrich the United States, “we have got to get our overall numbers way, way down; too many people have come into the United States.”

Touching on the issue of immigration outpacing assimilation, he said: “You’ve got to allow your own society to cohere a little bit, to build a sense of common identity for all the newcomers to assimilate … into American culture. Until you do that, you’ve got to be careful about any additional immigration, in my view.”

Pressed by one woman who questioned his position, Vance said that while he respects that there are people who have legally entered the United States and contribute to the country, it does not mean the United States should commit to immigration policies that could permit millions more to come in the future.

Common American Community

There are “too many people who want to come to the United States of America, and my job as vice president is not to look out for the interests of the whole world. It’s to look out for the people of the United States,” he said.

The vice president did not specify a target number for legal immigration, saying it would depend on the circumstances and on providing enough space for newcomers to settle and integrate into American society.

“What is the exact number of immigrants America should accept in the future? Right now, the answer is far less than we’ve been accepting,” Vance said.

“We have got to become a common community again, and you can’t do that when you have such high numbers of immigration, which is one of the reasons why we have the immigration policy we do.”

Vance was introduced on stage by Charlie Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, who has taken a leading role at Turning Point USA as its CEO.

In his speech before taking questions, Vance reflected on the advice that Charlie Kirk had given to young people, including his urging for them to get married, find a vocation, and build a family.

“That was the advice that he gave on campuses. But that’s not just about you. That’s also about our country and about our government, because while you have the freedom to live life as you so choose, I have got a responsibility as your vice president to make the American dream as accessible as possible,” Vance said.

“This is why we care about all the things that we care about. Why do I care so much about having a secure border in the United States of America?

“It’s because I believe that when you let in a flood of illegal immigration, what it does is it drives down the wages of young people and makes housing unaffordable for the entire American population. That’s why we closed down the border.”

Vance added: “The left will say our immigration policy is about hating immigration, hating immigrants. We don’t hate anybody. We love our fellow citizens, and because we want them to have the American dream, we shut that border down the very first day that Donald J. Trump was the president of the United States.”