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Neera Tanden, the domestic policy advisor to President Joe Biden, discussed immigration and the media during a Harvard Institute of Politics forum on Thursday evening. The event also included discussions about Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris’ policy plans and priorities.
The event was moderated by Harvard Economics professor Jason Furman ’92. Tanden spoke about the Biden administration’s current policy focuses and how these policies would evolve should Harris win the presidential election in November.
In her discussion of the significance of policy on individual lives, Tanden touched upon her personal experiences growing up as a child of Indian immigrants.
She said that her mother emphasized that she had the opportunities available to her because “the government decided to make a bunch of decisions to allow people like me, like us, who were in that very difficult spot, to thrive.”
Tanden attributed her decision to pursue a career in public service to her belief that the government provided her low-income family with many opportunities in her early life and emphasized a desire to “pay that forward.”
During the talk, Furman explicitly questioned Tanden about immigration and asked if she supported an open border. In response, she said that she supported a more aggressive stance on legal immigration. “Democrats still believe in expanding legal immigration, and we see a lot of opposition for even legal immigration in the other party,” she added.
She criticized the fact that the rhetoric on immigration has shifted farther to the right and has become more dependent on race.
Advocating for revised immigration policies, Tanden said, “If we’re just more reasonable on skills-based immigration, we will get a deal through to Congress.”
When asked by a forum attendee about her thoughts on the simplification of policy research when presented to the public, Tanden said, “I fundamentally think our challenges on communications are driven by the press.”
“You’re thinking about social media and how things are going to get reported very quickly,” she added. Tanden also criticized how policy matters are selectively covered because of an interest in political and divisive topics.
“And so it makes people think everything is motivated by electoral consequences, which drives a lot more cynicism about politics,” she added.
Tanden expressed excitement about Harris’ presidential campaign and policies. She said that Harris’s policy approach would differ from that of the current administration while building on some of Biden’s successes.
She also emphasized that Harris’ experiences as a woman have played a central part in her policy.
“I am super jazzed out that Kamala Harris is campaigning and campaigning aggressively, not just on childcare and paid leave — items that were part of our administration — but she’s developed an entirely new policy on long-term care, elder care,” she said.
“Maybe it will take a woman president to deliver an agenda that really fundamentally addresses the needs of women and families — that would be one lesson to take away from it,” Tanden said.
