Indian-american Neera vows to work on immigration matters
Indian-american public policy expert Neera Tanden has said her experience as a daughter of immigrants is akin to many immigrants in the US and she will work on the issue of immigration in her new role as the White House Domestic Policy Adviser.
Tanden, 52, on Saturday replaces former US National Security Adviser Susan Rice as the White House Domestic Policy Adviser, which is considered to be one of the most powerful positions inside the White House.
“Currently I'm Staff Secretary, and tomorrow I'm going to…i'm extremely enthusiastic about taking over as Domestic Policy Council Adviser. My experience is like many immigrants in the United States as children of immigrants,"
Tanden told PTI on Friday. "My father came here from India in the early 1950s, and my mother came in the 1960s. They moved to Bedford, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. They were the only Indian family in that community. So, I felt a part of that community, but also a little bit different,” she said.
Tanden, a close confidant of President Joe Biden, was named by Biden as his Domestic Policy Adviser this month to help him craft and implement his domestic policy agenda, making her the first Asianamerican to lead any of the three major White House policy councils in history.
“My mom would occasionally wear sarees. I was different from other families in Bedford. I had that duality of being the child of immigrants. But also, being part of America.
"What I'm really incredibly enthusiastic about in this role and excited about is one of the issues that I will take on as domestic policy adviser is the issue of immigration,” she said on the last day of her being senior adviser and staff secretary to President Biden.
President Biden has a strong record of expanding legal immigration in the United States, as well as a whole host of other issues, she said.
“I'm looking forward to working on those issues as well. And it really does feel like it comes full circle given the journey my parents made to come here, and to give me the opportunities I've had and that is effectuated now when I'm in this new role,” Tanden said.
She said that the president has important principles which is to ensure that they are expanding legal immigration and legal pathways. — pti
My mom would occasionally wear sarees. I was different from other families in Bedford. I had that duality of being the child of immigrants. But also, being part of America.” Neera Tanden White House Domestic Policy Adviser