'Emails From Indians Akin To Spam': New Zealand Immigration Minister Under Fire For Remarks
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Immigration minister Erica Stanford made the remarks while responding to a question during a parliamentary session on the use of her Gmail account for official correspondence
A New Zealand minister has courted controversy with her remarks on how she handles queries on immigration from Indians, when she said she 'never responds" to them and they are 'akin to spam".
Immigration minister Erica Stanford reportedly made the statement in response to a question during a parliamentary session on May 6. She was defending the use of her Gmail account for official correspondence.
'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," Stanford said.
Condemning the 'stereotypical" remarks, Indian-origin Labour MP Priyanca Radhakrishnan said ministers received unsolicited emails all the time and there was no reason for her to single out Indians. Stanford, however, responded saying her remarks had been misinterpreted.
In a Facebook post, Radhakrishnan slammed Stanford saying she 'felt the need to single out people from one country/ethnicity in a negative light". She said if you are from India, it will be better not to contact the minister as those emails will go into her spam folder.
'Earlier this week, in response to a question by @willowjeanprime the Immigration Minister felt the need to single out people from one country/ethnicity in a negative light. If you're from India, don't bother emailing her because it's automatically considered spam," Radhakrishnan said on Facebook.
She added: 'So much for the National govt's all-of-government focus on strengthening the relationship between India & NZ and focus on people-to-people links."
According to a report by The Indian Weekender, Radhakrishnan said, 'Such comments reinforce negative stereotypes about an entire community". She described the comments as 'careless at best and prejudiced at worst" and pointed out that ministers receive such emails all the time, and there was no reason to single out Indians.
'Particularly given New Zealand's important relationship with India," she was quoted as saying, 'comments like these serve to reinforce negative stereotypes against an entire community of people."
HOW DID ERICA STANFORD RESPOND?
Stanford defended her statement and said she did not consider emails from Indians spam, but in fact, 'almost akin to spam".
She said her remarks had been misinterpreted. 'I did not say that I consider them as spam," she was quoted, adding, 'I only said that I consider them almost akin to spam."
Stanford further said she was referring to the volume and nature of unsolicited emails she receives on her personal email and did not mean to call out a specific community.
'In this instance, I recalled a recent email I'd received of this nature when answering," she was quoted.
Stanford has served as minister of immigration since November 27, 2023, and took charge following the formation of the National-led coalition government under Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.
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