Vice President Vance says lowering immigration is best way to reduce antisemitism in US

U.S. Vice President JD Vance on Monday stated that the most effective way to reduce antisemitism would be “to lower immigration and promote assimilation.” 

Vance was replying to a previous post, in which he took journalists to task for improperly investigating some of the correlations related to the higher level of antisemitism among the younger generation in the United States. 

“Mainstream journalism is just profoundly uninteresting and lame, consumed by its own pieties,” Vance wrote on 𝕏, referring to an article in The Atlantic, which tracked the rise of antisemitic sentiment in younger Americans. “To write an article about the "generational divide" in anti-semitism without discussing the demographics of the various generations is mind boggling.” 

After sharing a quote about immigrants bringing “ethnic grievances” into the country, Vance wrote, “The most significant single thing you could do to eliminate anti-semitism and any other kind of ethnic hatred is to support our efforts to lower immigration and promote assimilation.” 

The most significant single thing you could do to eliminate anti-semitism and any other kind of ethnic hatred is to support our efforts to lower immigration and promote assimilation. But these guys won't do that, because they all lack curiosity and introspection.

— JD Vance (@JDVance) December 15, 2025

Later, the vice president retweeted a post from Charles Fain Lehman, a fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute, who posted an article in support of the idea that country of origin is a significant correlation factor when looking at antisemitism in the younger generation. 

As I noted in my post on the topic, foreign-origin is a much better predictor of antisemitism than ideology or age. https://t.co/p05RRm4hRt pic.twitter.com/8BdJhME7uK

— Charles Fain Lehman (@CharlesFLehman) December 15, 2025

Later, after Christian Nationalist reporter Sarah Strock, who posted that “White conservative zoomers don’t really like Israel either” in response to his post about the foreign-origin correlation, Vance argued that disagreeing with Israel is not the same as antisemitism. 

I would say there's a difference between not liking Israel (or disagreeing with a given Israeli policy) and anti-semitism.

— JD Vance (@JDVance) December 16, 2025

While Vance appeared to be pushing back against Strock’s attempt to link dislike of Israel and antisemitism, many Jewish accounts on social media took issue with the phrase, which is commonly used by both right-wing and left-wing pundits to deflect criticism of their stance on Israel. 

Some pundits and social media accounts which have engaged in repeated criticism of Israel, often to the exclusion of other countries, have used the statement to defend themselves from the charge of antisemitism. 

Vance’s comments come amid growing concern in Israel and among conservative Jewish Americans, about the vice president’s relationship to conservative figures which have become increasingly anti-Israel and antisemitic. The vice president has pushed back against the narrative of an “exploding” level of antisemitism among young conservatives in the U.S. 

A recent survey by the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research found that 17% of Republicans hold views it categorized as “anti-Jewish.” 

According to that survey, “Anti-Jewish Republicans are typically younger, disproportionately male, more likely to be college-educated, and significantly more likely to be New Entrant Republicans. They are also more racially diverse.” 

However, Vance’s relationship with people like Tucker Carlson [Vance employs Tucker’s son and has shared posts from Tucker’s brother], who have become increasingly anti-Israel, while also sharing antisemitic tropes, has many Jews concerned about the future of the Republican Party in the U.S., of which Vance is seen as the de facto leader after Trump leaves office.  

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump himself warned about a loss of influence for the Israel and Jewish lobby in Washington while speaking at the White House Hanukkah party.

“If you go back 10, 12, 15 years ago at the most, the strongest lobby in Washington was the Jewish lobby. It was Israel. That’s no longer true. You have to be very careful,” Trump said. “You have a Congress in particular which is becoming antisemitic."

Vance’s comments also come as Trump's administration is placing more restrictions on immigration, blocking migration totally from some countries, while seeking to restrict categories of immigration from others.