Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal emerged as a loud voice against Donald Trump’s crackdown on Somali migrants in Minnesota, as she said ‘being undocumented is not a crime’. While her statement invited intense criticism, Jayapal explained that overstaying a visa or being undocumented in the US is not a criminal offence, but a civil offence and hence undocumented migrants should be held in civil detention facilities, not in prisons. “We really have to look into the problem of Indians’ low self-esteem,” Right-wing writer Ann Coulter wrote on X taking a jibe at Jayapal who was born in India. In an interview with MS Now, Jayapal also said that immigrants from Somalia, India, Latin America, and Africa built America. MAGA activists were furious; they refuted Jayapal’s argument and said Democrats believe everyone apart from Americans helped build America. Another Indian-origin leader who drew the ire of Coulter was Ro Khanna who objected to President Donald Trump’s announcement of banning immigration from ‘third-world countries’. Ro Khanna said the concept of ‘third-world countries’ is a pre-1965 idea. “If Trump had his way, my parents who taught me to love this country would not have been welcome. His threat to revoke citizenship from those he sees as ‘non-compatible callous and frightening,” Ro Khanna said. “One thing Indians crush at is self-promotion,” Ann Coulter wrote, reacting to Ro Khanna’s video.
Crackdown on Somalis, immigration from ‘third-world countries’
- The Donald Trump administration took a host of measures in the aftermath of DC shooting in which the suspect was identified as an Afghan national who was given asylum in the US.
- Trump announced that he would terminate the Temporary Protected Status for Somalia. This would make Somalis open to be arrested. The crackdown on Somalis stemmed from financial fraud allegations in Minnesota.
- Trump announced an immigration ban on ‘third-world countries’ without specifying which countries will be affected.
- The administration put a hold on immigration requests from 19 countries of concern. These 19 countries are those that were put on a complete/partial travel ban list earlier.
- India does not feature any of these lists and there is no ban on Indians in the US. But Indian remains the center of the immigration topic as India contributes the maximum to the H-1B visa program which is a specialty visa to hire skilled workers from foreign countries.
