Sen. J.D. Vance said Tuesday that illegal immigrants are competing with Americans for housing and contributing to the soaring prices that have chased many people out of the dream of home ownership.

Mr. Vance laid blame at the feet of Vice President Kamala Harris, who he said is part of the administration that added millions of new illegal immigrants to the population.

“We should be kicking out illegal immigrants who are competing for those homes,” he said.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Democrats’ nominee, complained that was scapegoating illegal immigrants.

He said the answer to housing is to offer more government support, such as assistance in not needing to come up with a down payment.

Mr. Vance countered that Ms. Harris has been in the White House with President Biden for three years and hasn’t helped the situation.

“I invite her to use the office that the American people already gave her. Not sit around and campaign and do nothing while Americans find the American dream of homeownership unaffordable,” he said.

Several times during the debate Mr. Vance said there were as many as 25 million illegal immigrants now in the U.S.

That’s substantially higher than demographers figure. The Center for Immigration Studies, which backs stricter immigration limits, calculated that the number was about 14 million illegal immigrants as of March.

• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.