The discrimination and prejudice against Indians, even in their own territory, but in foreign lands, is nothing new. The recent news of comments made by Erica Stanford, New Zealand’s Immigration Minister, is just among a long list of people who, over the years, have in some way insulted Indians.
Stanford’s remarks, though, are not being taken lightly either by other politicians or the general public, sparking a lot of backlash and criticism online. This incident has also raised questions on relations between New Zealand and India, along with sparking debate around the perceived prejudice and the sensitivities that immigrants or those from developing countries still bear witness to.
What Did The Minister Say?
Erica Stanford, the Immigration Minister of New Zealand, has come under fire for comments she made during a parliamentary session on 6 May 2025. As per reports, Stanford was responding to Labour MP Willow-Jean Prime’s question on whether all emails sent to or from her personal email that are related to her ministerial portfolio are recorded as per the Cabinet Manual.
To this, Stanford admitted that she would forward official ministerial communication to her personal Gmail account but that she was complying with the rules. Stanford stated, “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.”
Things heated up, though, when she added, “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. But, similarly, other Ministers have probably had very similar issues.”
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Indian-origin Labour MP Priyanca Radhakrishnan criticised Stanford for her remarks, saying that they were “careless at best and prejudiced at worst,” adding that “such comments reinforce negative stereotypes about an entire community,” as per The Indian Weekender.
Radhakrishnan also stated, “It is unacceptable for a minister to single out a specific ethnic group, particularly given New Zealand’s important relationship with India.”
Radhakrishnan, in a May 10 Facebook post, also wrote, “Earlier this week, in response to a question by @willowjeanprime, the Immigration Minister felt the need to single out people from one country or ethnicity in a negative light. If you’re from India, don’t bother emailing her because it’s automatically considered spam. So much for the National government’s all-of-government focus on strengthening the relationship between India and NZ and focus on people-to-people links.”
Facebook user Alan Papprill replied to this post, writing, “Surely she should forward such requests for advice to another MP to respond to or get her staff to reply, pointing the individual to the immigration website or a fellow MP who has no immediate ministerial responsibility for immigration.”
While Stanford tried to clarify that her comments were misinterpreted, saying how “I did not say that I consider them as spam,” and that “I only said that I consider them almost akin to spam,” it did not necessarily make things smoother. She further explained that she was talking about her personal account getting a large volume of unsolicited emails and wasn’t targeting Indian individuals.
Image Credits: Google Images
Sources: Business Today, The Indian Express, Financial Express
Find the blogger: @chirali_08
This post is tagged under: New Zealand, New Zealand immigration, visa, New Zealand visa, indians, New Zealand immigration minister, indian visa, New Zealand indian visa, racist, xenophobia, Erica Stanford, Erica Stanford New Zealand Immigration Minister
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