US Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi has pushed back against a debate over Indian immigration in the US, rejecting the idea that Indian Americans should be viewed as an ethnic issue that needs to be addressed.“Indian Americans are not an ‘Indian Question’ to be solved,” the Illinois Democrat wrote in a post on X.Krishnamoorthi said treating an American community as a problem because of its ethnicity was “racist, xenophobic, and fundamentally un-American”.“We are a nation born of ideals, not bloodlines,” he wrote.The congressman added that no race, religion, or ancestry had a greater claim to the US than any other.“Indian Americans are as American as anyone. This country belongs to all of us,” he said.His comments came after Jonathan Keeperman shared a post about a recent episode of the “Rufo & Lomez” podcast, hosted by conservative commentator Christopher Rufo and Keeperman.Released on September 26, the episode is titled “The Indian Question” and focuses on the position of Indian immigrants and Indian Americans in the wider debate over immigration and American identity.The discussion centres on issues including H-1B visas, assimilation, demographic change and the changing role of Indian immigrants in American society. Its published description asks whether the debate surrounding Indian immigration is ultimately about “race, class, or something else entirely”.In his post, Keeperman described Indian immigrants as a relatively small but rapidly growing foreign-born demographic and said their growing presence had made them a visible part of debates over immigration and American identity.Krishnamoorthi’s response directly rejected framing Indian Americans as a problem based on their ethnicity, instead arguing that American identity should not be determined by race, religion or ancestry.
