The White House clarified that US President Joe Biden’s remarks last week, where he mentioned mentioning Indians taking over the country, were intended to honour the incredible contribution of the Indian-Americans in the field of science.
Responding to a query at the daily briefing, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that Biden just believes that the statement was a reflection of his belief that Indian-Americans "make a great contribution to the fabric of society".
"I would first say that the President was just recognising and honouring and valuing, or this was his intention, the incredible contribution of Indian-Americans to science. He was speaking to an Indian-American woman who is of course a scientist and an important part of the NASA team. And he also was, of course, recognising the incredible contribution of his own Vice President (Kamala Harris)," Psaki said.
"He just believes it was a reflection of his belief that Indian-Americans make a great contribution to the fabric of society, whether it’s science or education or the government. And that was what he was trying to convey," she added.
Biden last week congratulated the NASA team responsible for the success of the Perseverance rover that landed on Mars earlier this month. He lauded the team at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)/California Institute of Technology, including Dr Swati Mohan, NASA’s guidance and controls operations lead for the Mars Perseverance rover landing.
“It’s amazing. Indian-descent Americans are taking over the country — you, my vice president, my speechwriter,” Biden had said.
Dr Mohan, who skilfully landed the spacecraft, works at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
On the question of a number of Indian-Americans who came to the United States as legal immigrants feeling that the Biden is not much focused on resolving the issues related to legal immigrants, rather than they are more focused on illegal immigrants, the secretary told the journalist that the scribe "must write an article" about how the president’s immigration bill proposes "a number of fixes or changes in the legal and legislative system to ensure that those issues are addressed and we're eager to move that forward with members of both parties".
