US President's domestic policy adviser Neera Tanden has attacked those political parties who are attempting to "restrict" legal immigration to the US from Asian nations and other regions of the world and stated their immigration policy of deportation would time and again hit the near and dear ones of individuals who have migrated to the US legally.
"I'll just say there's been a lot of conversation about immigration. Both people, our administration, the others have been focused on securing our border. But there is a big difference between national leaders on the issue of legal immigration. Our community has grown in part because this country has seen expansions of legal immigration as crucially important," Tanden told PTI.
"But that is a huge difference… There are folks who want to curtail legal immigration, specifically legal immigration from Asia and the rest of the world. That is an issue that is really at stake. I don't think there has been enough discussion of that, those sets of issues," Tanden said in what was an apparent dig at the policies of former president Donald Trump who is now the Republican presidential candidate.
While this administration has been obsessed with expanding support for documented dreamers for others, there is much work that still needs to be done," said Tanden. And it also means, if we are talking about mass deportation, that means we have mixed-status families with citizens and non-citizens and maybe aunties and uncles visiting but it means that we really could see legal immigration restrictions.
"So, in the president's, and really most importantly, the vice president's plan around the border bill, there were provisions there to expand legal immigration and particularly provide support to documented dreamers. And that is a key priority".
"Unfortunately, that bill was taken down by Republicans because then the nominee, Donald Trump told them to vote against it. That was a crucial provision there to ensure that we are expanding legal immigration and particularly focusing on the needs of documented dreamers. It's unfortunate that it was taken down by Republicans in the Senate," she said.
She was asked how Trump's policies on legal immigration were going to hit Indian Americans. She said, "I'm not really here to talk about a presidential candidate, but I will say that you look back to what Trump proposed in his first administration. He proposed ensuring that we would restrict access to legal immigration from countries in Asia and expand it in countries from Europe or keep it the same.".
"He really did look at constraints from, particularly from India and lowered the numbers dramatically. He wasn't able to do that because there were Democrats in Congress and in the Senate. But if they take all three branches of government and his rhetoric has been much more aggressive on immigration, that is a real challenge," Tanden said.
"I am not here to talk about what he will do, because I will say, you can look at what he could do from what he tried to do the last time, and this time there'll be less guardrails. I do think people should really look at, I do hear a lot about the concerns in bringing family members over; all of that will end if the country goes in that particular direction," Tanden said.
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