U.S. Secretary Carson terms slaves as ''involuntary immigrants''

United States Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson sparked a controversy by terming slaves as 'immigrants' and argued that the label fits anyone who comes into a country from outside - even "involuntary immigrants".

"That's what America is about, a land of dreams and opportunity. There were other immigrants who came here in the bottom of slave ships, worked even longer, even harder for less. But they too had a dream that one day their sons, daughters, grandsons, granddaughters, great-grandsons, great-granddaughters, might pursue prosperity and happiness in this land," The New York Times quoted Carson as saying.

He said if a person comes from outside to inside then he is an immigrant.

"Slaves came here as involuntary immigrants but they still had the strength to hold on," he said.

Last week, the new education secretary, Betsy DeVos caused an uproar by describing historically black colleges and universities - founded because black students were not allowed to attend segregated white schools - as "real pioneers" of school choice.

She later backtracked, saying in a statement that the history of black colleges and universities "was born, not out of mere choice, but out of necessity, in the face of racism, and in the aftermath of the Civil War.