News Brief
White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby
US President Biden and his administration are working very hard to thwart and disrupt the attacks on Indian and Indian-American Students, the White House said on Thursday (15 February).
The statement by John Kirby, Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council in the White House, comes amid a number of attacks on Indian and Indian American students in various parts of the country.
"There’s no excuse for violence, certainly based on — on race or — or gender or religion or any other factor. That’s just unacceptable here in the United States," Kirby told reporters when asked about the attacks on Indian and Indian-American students in the US.
"The President and this administration has been working very, very hard to make sure we’re doing everything we can to work with state and local authorities to try to thwart and disrupt those kinds of attacks and make it clear to anybody who might consider them that they’ll be held properly accountable," he added.
Syed Mazahir Ali, a student at Indiana Wesleyan University, reported being assaulted in February. Details of the incident are still emerging.
At least four Indian students have been reported dead in the US in last several weeks.
Akul Dhawan and Neel Acharya, students at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Purdue University respectively, reportedly died in January after heavy drinking and exposure to extreme winter temperatures.
Shreyas Reddy Benigeri, an Indian-origin student at the Lindner School of Business in Cincinnati, was found dead in his apartment earlier this month.