JD Vance says South Asian immigrants enriched America

“I am married to the daughter of South Asian immigrants to this country, incredible people, people who genuinely have enriched the country in so many ways,” Vance, 39.

• Vivek Mishra
• 18 July, 2024

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By: Vivek Mishra

Republican US vice-presidential nominee Senator JD Vance on Wednesday highlighted the contributions of South Asian immigrants to America.

He praised his wife, Usha Chilukuri Vance, during his acceptance speech for the Republican Party’s nomination for vice president in the upcoming November 5 presidential election.

“I am married to the daughter of South Asian immigrants to this country, incredible people, people who genuinely have enriched the country in so many ways,” Vance, 39, said in his speech on the third day of the 4-day Republican National Convention.

“And of course, I’m biased, because I love my wife, but I believe that it’s true. When I proposed to my wife, we were in law school, and I said, Honey, I come with USD 120,000 worth of law school debt and a cemetery plot on a mountainside in eastern Kentucky,” he said.

Vance said he met his wife Usha at Yale University.

“Tonight I’m joined by my beautiful wife, Usha, an incredible lawyer and a better mom,” he said.

The daughter of Indian immigrants, Usha grew up in a San Diego suburb. She is a graduate of Yale Law School and a civil litigation attorney at Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP.

She has clerked for Supreme Court chief justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh while he was a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit.

The Vances were married in 2014 in Kentucky. They have three children: sons Ewan and Vivek, and a daughter named Mirabel.

(With PTI inputs)