Vivek Ramaswamy celebrates his immigrant family while pushing far ...

After Vivek Ramaswamy’s explosive performance during Wednesday night’s Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee, experts say it’s clear that his star is on the rise. But on that ascent, they warn, the tech millionaire is  feeding dangerous ideas about immigration. 

Standing near-center stage, Ramaswamy drew the most incoming fire from his fellow candidates. While he used little of his time to talk about his personal background, experts noted that  his parents’ immigrant story became a tool for him at some key moments. 

“My parents came to this country with no money 40 years ago,” the candidate said in his opening. “I have gone on to found multi billion dollar companies.” 

It’s rhetoric that’s long been used on the right, even by some of Ramaswamy’s contemporaries like GOP candidate Nikki Haley, to paint a picture of Asian immigrants as inherently successful and hardworking, especially compared to other minority groups, Karthick Ramakrishnan, founder of policy and research nonprofit AAPI Data, explained. 

“Ramaswamy has a very selective reading of the immigrant experience,” he said.

Especially notable, he said, was the way Ramaswamy went on to lambast undocumented migrants crossing the southern border, which he described as an “invasion.” 

“We will close the southern border where criminals are coming in every day,” the 38-year-old said during the debate. 

While this language isn't new to the GOP playbook, Ramaswamy has at times gone further than some of his rivals. He advocated for getting rid of lottery-based visas in favor of “meritocratic admission.” He’s also advocated for the use of military force to secure the border. Coming from a brown person and a child of immigrants, it paints a distorted view of the U.S. immigration system, Ramakrishnan said. 

“There’s this notion of the good immigrant versus the bad immigrant; the people who came here the right way versus the wrong way,” he said. “Our immigration system is fundamentally broken. Adult relatives of immigrants from India have to wait 20 years or more to get their visa.”

Ramaswamy’s team did not respond to a request for comment.

Though rhetoric like this might help bolster Ramaswamy’s performance in the Republican field, it doesn’t paint a full picture of the complexities of immigration to the U.S. — even South Asian immigration, he said. 

“Yes, most Indian Americans came to the United States on employment-based visas and family visas, but Indian Americans have a sizable undocumented immigrant population in the U.S. and that’s important to acknowledge,” Ramakrishnan said. “Indian immigrants have tried to cross the border, because of how difficult it is to come in through family visa sponsorship.”

Terms like “invasion” have been rising in popularity on the right since former President Donald Trump’s campaign in 2016. Ramaswamy, who closely aligns himself with the former president, is riding a harmful nationalist wave, immigrant justice leaders say. 

Using terms like “invasion,” she said, inherently feeds white supremacism. 

“It is deeply distressing to see that a child of immigrants, himself a person of color, would be lifting talking points from neo-Nazis,” said Kica Matos, president of the National Immigration Law Center. “It legitimizes that kind of dangerous talk. It gives a sense of normalcy and permission for white supremacists to advance their deeply repulsive beliefs.”

Matos said it’s hard to watch candidates whose parents came here to give them a better life actively work to stop others from doing the same thing for their kids. 

“It seems like this is a real example of them pulling up the ladder behind them,” she said. “They benefited from opportunities offered to immigrants, and now … they are stomping on other immigrants.”

“I think he accomplished his goal of being talked about a lot,” said Pawan Dhingra, a professor of American Studies at Amherst College. “In some ways, it could make him an endearing candidate to a lot of Republicans. It’s his way of saying, ‘Listen, we’re not anti-immigrant, we’re anti-some immigrants.’ And by endorsing someone with an immigrant background, they’re able to wrap themselves in a sense of self-confidence.” 

South Asian Americans make up a very small slice of the Republican voter base, Ramakrishnan said, and the candidates who share their ethnicity — Ramaswamy and Haley — haven’t had a reason to speak directly to them yet. But in addressing his ethnic origin to the white majority of the party, Ramaswamy has a specific goal in mind, Dhingra said. 

“He’s not looking for embracing diversity,” Dhingra said. “He’s very nationalist … it’s designed, in my mind, to kind of say, ‘Listen, I’m your kind of immigrant.’”

Sakshi Venkatraman

Sakshi Venkatraman is a reporter for NBC Asian America.