‘In poor taste’: MEA hits back at MAGA influencer’s comment reposted by Trump

Earlier, the spokesperson at the US Embassy had said, “The President has said ‘India is a great country with a very good friend of mine at the top’.”

Trump reposted a criticism of birthright citizenship by sharing a video of prominent conservative author and radio host Michael Savage, who claimed the current legal system allows immigrants to exploit American laws by arriving in the “ninth month of their pregnancy.”

In the footage, Savage argued that such practices create a loophole where “a baby here becomes an instant citizen, and then they bring the entire family in from China or India or some other hellhole on the planet.”

The footage, originally aired on the Newsmax series The Savage Nation, was reposted by Trump, along with the script of the message.

In the clip, Savage said, “Today’s brief, abbreviated discussion will be about the arguments that I just listened to before the Supreme Court about birthright citizenship. I was somewhat incensed by listening to the arguments because all I heard was legalese being bandied back and forth.”

Savage claimed that “English is not spoken here anymore” and alleged a lack of loyalty among modern immigrants.

He also said, “No, they’re not like the European Americans of today and their ancestors. The Irish integrated, the Italians integrated, the Polish integrated, the Lithuanians, the Romanians, the Russians. They all integrated and became Americans in the melting pot.”

Savage said that the traditional concept of assimilation has failed, noting, “The idea of the melting pot is long over. It is now just a cash in pot. We’ve gone from the melting pot to the chamber pot.”

This is not the first time that immigrants from India have had to face such racist abuse by the MAGA Republican base, a core constituency of President Trump.

In December 2024, right-winger Laura Loomer criticised the H1B visa programme for skilled foreign professionals to be “not America First policy” and said the tech executives who have aligned themselves with Trump were doing so to enrich themselves.

Immigration was an important political hot-button issue in the 2024 US presidential elections, when Trump had promised to shut down illegal immigration at the southern border and start a mass deportation effort. However, the current debate focuses on legal immigrants and birthright citizenship.