White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney is claiming that the United States "needs more immigrants" because the country is "running out of people," according to a report by the Washington Post.

During a closed-door meeting in England, Mulvaney reportedly said the U.S. needed to expand legal immigration levels beyond their current admission rates of more than 1.2 million legal immigrants a year.

The comments were revealed in audio obtained by the Washington Post:

Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney told a crowd at a private gathering in England on Wednesday night that the Trump administration "needs more immigrants" for the U.S. economy to continue growing, according to a audio recording of his remarks obtained by The Washington Post. [Emphasis added]

"We are desperate — desperate — for more people," Mulvaney said. "We are running out of people to fuel the economic growth that we've had in our nation over the last four years. We need more immigrants." [Emphasis added]