OAN’s Brooke Mallory
2:32 PM – Friday, May 3, 2024
While attempting to draw comparisons between four countries and the United States on immigration, President Joe Biden labeled India and Japan, in addition to China and Russia, as “xenophobic” nations that do not welcome immigrants.
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Biden made the comments on Wednesday night at a campaign fundraising event.
“Why? Because we welcome immigrants,” Biden said. “Look, think about it. Why is China stalling so badly economically? Why is Japan having trouble? Why is Russia? Why is India? Because they’re xenophobic. They don’t want immigrants,” Biden asserted.
“Immigrants are what makes us strong. Not a joke. That’s not hyperbole, because we have an influx of workers who want to be here and want to contribute,” he added.
Neither the Indian government nor the Japanese government responded right away.
Only three weeks had passed since the White House welcomed Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for an opulent state visit, during which the two leaders celebrated what Biden referred to as an “unbreakable alliance,” particularly on matters of international security. Japan is a key ally of the United States.
Additionally, the White House had also welcomed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a state visit last summer. Despite disagreements over human rights, India, one of the economies with the highest rate of growth in the world, is an essential partner in the Indo-Pacific region.
At a hotel event, where the majority of the attendees were said to be Asian Americans, Biden claimed that the U.S. economy was flourishing and he said the reason for that was “because of you and many others.” He also mentioned that the upcoming U.S. election was about “freedom, America, and democracy.”
Later, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby tried to clean up the messy statement by implying that Biden was simply trying to make a more general argument regarding the U.S. stance on immigration.
“Our allies and partners know well in tangible ways how President Biden values them, their friendship, their cooperation, and the capabilities that they bring across the spectrum on a range of issues, not just security related,” Kirby said on Thursday morning after being asked about Biden’s “xenophobic” comments. “They understand how much he completely and utterly values the idea of alliances and partnerships.”
Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), one of two senators of Asian American descent, introduced Biden at the event, which coincided with the beginning of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. She is serving as his reelection campaign’s national co-chair.
It is true that Japan has historically taken a more restrictive approach to immigration, especially in comparison to the U.S. ever since Biden took presidential office. However, in recent years, Japan has also changed its laws to make it simpler for foreign workers to enter the country.
“It’s not something diplomatic to say about one of America’s closest allies, especially because America has its own problems with xenophobia that Japanese are seeing on the news all the time,” said Jeffrey Hall, a Japanese studies lecturer at Kanda University of International Studies in Chiba, Japan. “So it just strikes me as something that was unnecessary to say in this context,” NBC News reported.
“It will sound like America is once again talking down to the Japanese,” Hall added, “and that’s not really an effective way of getting Japan to fix various problems with its society…”
As for India, the country now boasts the second highest population in the world, according to a March 3rd report from the U.S. Census Bureau. A new citizenship law that expedites the naturalization process for Sikhs, Hindus, Parsis, Buddhists, Jains, and Christians who migrated to India from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan was passed by India earlier this year.
However, it leaves out Muslims, who make up the majority in all three countries.
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