New Zealand Immigration Minister Faces Backlash for Saying She Never Replies to Emails from Indians

New Zealand Immigration Minister Faces Backlash for Saying She Never Replies to Emails from Indians

New Zealand’s Minister of Immigration Erica Stanford has come under fire for comments that appear to stereotype Indians. Stanford was responding to a question in parliament on May 6 when she made a passing reference to Indian migrants. Her remarks may have flown under the radar, if not for Priyanca Radhakrishnan, an India-born Labour MP, who called Stanford’s remarks “careless at best and prejudiced at worst”.

What did Erica Stanford say about Indians?

According to a report in The Indian Weekender, Erica Stanford recently admitted to forwarding official correspondence to her personal gmail account. The New Zealand National Party cabinet minister was responding to a question in parliament about this misstep when she made a remark about Indians that many found distasteful.

The Kiwi immigration minister said she never opened emails from Indians, comparing them to spam.

“I have complied with the Official Information Act. I have also made sure that everything is available to be captured and have forwarded everything that I’ve needed to to my parliamentary email address,” said Stanford.

“I will acknowledge, though, in a very similar case to Kelvin Davis, I receive a lot of unsolicited emails like, for example, things from people in India asking for immigration advice, which I never respond to. I almost regard those as being akin to spam, and so there are those ones.”

How did Priyanca Radhakrishnan respond?

Chennai-born Radhakrishnan accused Stanford of playing up negative stereotypes about Indians.

“Comments like these serve to reinforce negative stereotypes against an entire community of people,” Radhakrishnan told The Indian Weekender. She added that it was unacceptable for a minister to single out people from one ethnicity.

Stanford, however, has defended her remarks, claiming she was misunderstood. “I did not say it is automatically considered as spam,” she clarified. “I said ‘I almost regard those as being akin to spam’.”

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