New Zealand Immigration Minister Slammed For Comparing Indian Emails To 'Spams': 'I Never Respond To Them'

New Zealand's Immigration Minister, Erica Stanford, has faced backlash over remarks perceived to stereotype Indian migrants.

The controversy arose after a comment she made in parliament on 6 May, which may have gone unnoticed if not for India-born Labour MP Priyanca Radhakrishnan, who described Stanford's words as "careless at best and prejudiced at worst".

Photo Credit: www.facebook.com/EricaStanfordECB

What did she say about Indians?

As reported by The Indian Weekender, Stanford, a Cabinet Minister from the National Party, recently acknowledged forwarding official communications to her personal Gmail account. When questioned in parliament about this lapse, she made a comment about Indians that many have criticised as distasteful.

In her response, Stanford said she typically ignores emails from Indian individuals, likening 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 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?

Radhakrishnan, who was born in Chennai, accused Stanford of perpetuating harmful stereotypes.

"Comments like these serve to reinforce negative stereotypes against an entire community of people," she told The Indian Weekender, adding that it was unacceptable for a minister to single out individuals based on ethnicity.

Stanford, however, stood by her comments, asserting that her statement had been misunderstood.

"I did not say it is automatically considered as spam," she clarified. "I said 'I almost regard those as being akin to spam'."