Vance calls for reduction in legal immigration at Ole Miss TPUSA event

At a Turning Point USA event at the University of Mississippi Wednesday evening

Vice President J.D. Vance said there needs to be a significant reduction

in legal immigration to the United States. Vance said former President Joe Biden's immigration stance allowed more immigrants

to enter the country than he believes to be optimal, and that it could destabilize or harm the cohesion of American society

But my view is, look, there are people who want to come to the United States of America

And some of them, I'm sure, can enrich the United States of America by coming here

But we have got to get our overall numbers way, way down

Too many people have come into the United States of America. Vance argued that legal immigration is complicated

He said the influx of undocumented migrants who entered the U.S. under the Biden administration

undercuts the wages of American workers and increases the cost of housing

Vance explained how his wife, Second Lady Usha Vance, comes from a family of immigrants who settled in the U.S. back in the 1980s

I do believe that some immigrants, many immigrants do in fact enrich the United States of America

But here's the problem. We have got, we don't even know how many illegal aliens we have

We don't even know. The best guess is probably 25, 30 million people

I've heard estimates as high as 50 million. And 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 to assimilate Vance also spoke about his late friend and founder of TPUSA Charlie Kirk who was assassinated on September 10th

calling him a great husband and great father. He also said Kirk was the most effective person in

politics that he had ever seen. Vance touched on a conversation he had with Kirk just months

before his death. I remember one time in particular where Charlie Kirk called me and guys, he was mad

It was one, you know, I wouldn't say the last conversation that I had with him, but it was in the last few months of his life

And he called me and he said, J.D., I'm really worried. I'm really worried that what's going on in the Middle East right now is going to lead the United States into a protracted military conflict

I've never told anybody that, that Charlie was really worried about that in the final months of his life

Vance emphasized that the U.S. should stay out of wars that aren't necessary and avoid losing American lives in them

He praised President Trump's actions in the Middle East, including diplomacy in the Gaza ceasefire deal and a U.S. military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities

Meanwhile, the U.S. is ramping up military activity against Venezuela and attacking boats in the region that it claims are carrying illegal drugs

Charlie Kirk's widow, Erica, who took over leadership of Turning Point USA

introduced Vance at the Ole Miss event. It was one of her first public appearances in her new role

For Straight Arrow News, I'm Lauren Keenan. If you want more on this story, download the Straight Arrow News app or visit san.com