New Zealand Minister Erica Stanford Draws Flak For "Never Respond To Indians' Emails" Remarks

New Zealand’s Minister of Immigration, Erica Stanford, has drawn criticism from the Indian community for remarks she made characterizing emails from Indians as "akin to spam."

Many have labeled her comments as racially insensitive.

The remarks were made during a parliamentary session on May 6, as Stanford attempted to justify her use of a personal Gmail account for official correspondence.

“I have complied with the Official Information Act. I have also ensured that everything is available to be captured and have forwarded everything I needed to my parliamentary email address,” Stanford stated.

She continued, “I will acknowledge, though, in a very similar case to Kelvin Davis, I receive a lot of unsolicited emails—like, for example, messages 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."

Stanford’s comments received backlash from members of the Indian community, including Priyanca Radhakrishnan, an India-born Labour MP.

Stanford’s Statement Criticized by India-born Labour MP

Criticizing Stanford in a Facebook post, Radhakrishnan wrote, “Earlier this week, in response to a question by @willowjeanprime, the Immigration Minister felt the need to single out people from one country/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.”

Radhakrishnan went on to describe the minister’s statement as “careless at best and prejudiced at worst,” adding that such remarks “reinforce negative stereotypes against an entire community.”

Stanford later issued a clarification, stating that her comment referred to a single email and was not directed at the entire Indian community. She further explained, “I did not say it is automatically considered as spam... I said, ‘I almost regard those as being akin to spam.’”

The controversy comes at a delicate time, as India and New Zealand work toward finalizing a free trade agreement by 2025. New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi in March to strengthen bilateral ties.

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