Are rising levels of legal immigration displacing American workers? Vice President JD Vance raised that concern before a crowd of 10,000 at the University of Mississippi.
Vance didn’t mince words, declaring that the U.S. is importing far too many legal immigrants and H-1B visa workers, a policy he believes undermines the fabric of the American community, as reported by Breitbart News. His remedy is clear: slash those numbers significantly to rebuild trust and cohesion.
This isn’t just about borders; it’s about paychecks and opportunity. Vance pointed out how programs like H-1B, sold as a pipeline for genius talent, often end up replacing American accountants with foreign hires at half the cost.
The crowd erupted when Vance tackled the H-1B visa issue head-on. He argued it’s absurd to hire foreign workers for roles Americans are ready and willing to fill at a fair wage.
“What [the program] is actually used to do is hire a [foreign] accountant at a 50 percent discount to an American citizen,” Vance stated. That’s not innovation; it’s a slap in the face to graduates sweating over student loans only to see jobs handed overseas.
Students at the rally understood this all too well. Their careers, just beginning, are already threatened by outsourcing and automation, a reality Vance tied directly to flawed visa policies.
Vance harked back to the 1925 immigration reform, a time when the U.S. nearly halted inflows for decades. He sees it as a model for fostering assimilation and a shared civic culture, now fractured by relentless diversity pushes.
“We have got to become a common [high trust] community again, and you can’t do that when you have such high numbers of [legal] immigration,” he told the crowd. If social trust is the bedrock of freedom, then current policies are jackhammering right through it.
He also swatted down the notion that past immigration justifies endless future inflows. Responding to an Indian student’s plea for citizenship based on legal entry, Vance respected her contribution but firmly rejected any obligation to keep the gates wide open.
Legal immigration, Vance argued, isn’t the benign force some claim it to be. With about a million entrants yearly, he sees clear evidence of wage suppression for American families already struggling to keep up.
“Legal immigration is complicated because we let in about a million legal immigrants into the United States of America every single year, and I think the evidence is pretty clear that a lot of those immigrants are actually undermining the wages of American workers,” he said. It’s a bitter pill when policy prioritizes corporate savings over hometown livelihoods.
This isn’t just theory; it’s personal for many in the audience. Vance’s push for H-1B reform aligns with a broader call to put American workers first, a stance that resonates with those tired of seeing their futures discounted.
Looking ahead, Vance advocated for a pause, a breather to let society knit itself back together. With estimates of illegal entrants ranging wildly from 25 to 50 million, he insisted on caution before adding more to the mix.
He’s not blind to the benefits some immigrants bring, but the scale of current numbers alarms him. A nation unsure of its own count can’t afford to keep piling on without risking deeper fractures.
Ultimately, Vance’s vision is about safeguarding what makes America work: a shared identity and trust among its people. His plea to dial back immigration, both legal and otherwise, isn’t about exclusion but about ensuring the nation’s foundation doesn’t crumble under unchecked strain.
