Washington: In yet another landmark moment, an Indian-American stood behind the White House briefing room and for the first time became the face of the US administration. Raj Shah, 33, a Republican who is formally deputy assistant to President Trump and also the deputy White House press secretary, held centerstage in the James S Brady briefing room, becoming the first Indian-American to speak for the US government. Although he was just standing in for the regular press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who is on vacation, it was a historic moment for Indian-Americans despite the community’s high profile as a model and successful minority, given the Trump administration’s purported antipathy towards immigrants.
Indeed, immigration issues featured high on the day’s topics, even as scores of Indian-Americans demonstrated outside the US Congress in bitter cold seeking a resolution to the green card backlog that has put high-skilled professionals and their children in a spot. Shah, himself a son of Indian immigrant professionals (mother a dentist and father an engineer), had a reassuring message for them: the Trump administration is committed to ending the diversity lottery visa (which gives nationals of every country a shot at emigrating to the US) to help reduce the green card backlog (which would favour India).
“I think the president wants to see legal immigration reform. He wants to see us move from a process of extended family chain migration toward merit-based immigration reforms,” Shah told reporters during his briefing. Trump himself confirmed the position later in the day tweeting: “Time to end the visa lottery. Congress must secure the immigration system and protect Americans.”
But the rest of the briefing was a rough initiation for Shah as the White House press corps, largely liberal leaning, bore down on him over the administration’s latest travails and flubs: the exit of Rob Porter, a White House minion forced to quit earlier this week after his two ex-wives accused him of domestic violence. Shah had to tread a delicate line of acknowledging that the White House hadn’t handled the situation well (“I think it’s fair to say we all could have done better dealing with this,” he said), while defending reports that senior White House officials handed Porter greater responsibilities even after stories emerged of his alleged domestic abuse.
