“One of the reasons why our economy’s growing is because of you and many others. Why? Because we welcome immigrants,” Biden said at a Washington fundraising event for his 2024 re-election campaign and marking the start of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

“Why is China stalling so badly economically, why is Japan having trouble, why is Russia, why is India, because they’re xenophobic. They don’t want immigrants. Immigrants are what makes us strong.”

The International Monetary Fund forecast last month that each country would see its growth decelerate in 2024 from the year prior, ranging from 0.9% in highly developed Japan to 6.8% in emerging India.

They forecast that the US would grow at 2.7%, slightly brisker than its 2.5% rate last year. Many economists attribute better-than-expected performance partly to a migrants expanding the country’s labor force.

Concern about irregular migration has become a top issue for many US voters ahead of November’s presidential election.

Biden, who has condemned the rhetoric of his Republican opponent Donald Trump as anti-immigrant, has worked to court broad economic and political relations with countries including Japan and India to counter China and Russia globally.