U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance weighed in on what has been behind the influx of illegal immigrants into the country, explaining how money is the driving force behind immigration policies.

The Republican vice presidential nominee spoke about immigration among many other topics in a three-hour interview with podcast giant Joe Rogan on Friday, warning that giving amnesty to about 25 million illegal migrants currently in the U.S. would “end democracy.”

“What do you think the motivation of allowing this to take place and the disproportionate number of people that have moved to swing states which is also like a little suspicious,” the host of “The Joe Rogan Experience” asked Vance as they discussed the effects of border policies.

(Video Credit: The Joe Rogan Experience)

“I think what is obvious, and I’ve seen this in the halls of Congress,” Vance began, “I’ve seen it very explicitly.”

“You talk about lobbying [in other political issues], and we obviously talked about [it] in the context of other industries. There is a massive corporate lobby for cheap labor in the United States of America. That is, I think, the main thing that’s going on,” he continued.

“Let me tell you a story when I was in the private sector. I was at a business conference dinner, and I was seated next to the CEO of one of the largest hotel chains in America … The guy was going on and on about how much he hates Donald Trump. And I’m like, ‘Oh, that’s interesting, why do you hate Donald Trump so much?’ Because, again, I was, I was sort of a Trump skeptic in 2015 and at this point, I was kind of starting to really get on the Trump train,” Vance told Rogan.

“And he said, ‘Well, the reason I hate Donald Trump … is because Donald Trump’s border policies have cut down the number of illegal immigrants. And because I can’t pay illegal immigrants under the table anymore, I have to pay American workers, and they want much higher wages,'” the senator recounted.

“I was like, Holy sh-t! This guy just admitted what is straight-up, Monopoly Man evil sh-t. My wife, who’s very apolitical, was actually at the dinner with me, and she’s like, ‘Come again, you just said you don’t want Americans to get decent wages?'” he continued.

“The best argument for Donald Trump’s immigration policy is that American workers are getting higher wages, and this is why this corporate CEO hates it,” he concluded. “So whatever the industry is, you’ve got a lot of people who want cheap labor and they don’t want to pay American workers higher wages. That’s a big part of it.”

Vance went on to note that there is also a straightforward political aspect of the issue as well.

“I do think there’s also a power dynamic to it. In particular, I think Kamala Harris and the Democrats, they want to give these millions upon millions of illegal aliens the right to vote. They want to legalize them. They want to make it easier for them to participate in our elections,” he told Rogan.

“And that means, fundamentally, the end of American democracy, because you’re talking about 25 million [illegal migrant] people here,” Vance explained. “If Kamala Harris gives 10 million of those people legal status and allows them to vote in American elections. Then, say, 70/30 they go [vote] Democrat, Republicans will never win a national election in this country in my lifetime.”

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Frieda Powers

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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.

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