By Manjusha Kulkarni, Stop AAPI Hate & Chintan Patel, Indian American Impact
An Indian American woman in Texas was at work when a customer started throwing things at her and yelled anti-Indian slurs, saying, “I am glad that Trump is deporting you.”
This story, submitted this year to Stop AAPI Hate’s reporting center, is horrifying, but not unique. Throughout the U.S., Indian communities face an explosion of racist rhetoric and attacks. This summer, we saw some of the highest levels of anti-Indian threats and slurs in online extremist spaces since tracking began in 2023. At the same time, ICE raids have targeted Indian American and other immigrant communities, arresting citizens and non-citizens alike. The result is a culture of fear.
In close community conversations, Indian Americans are increasingly sharing their experiences – and now the rest of the country is starting to notice. Many are afraid to leave their homes, and those who do often carry passports at all times, just in case. Even during the Diwali holiday, one of the most important for Hindus, Sikhs and Jains, many community members chose to celebrate in low-key ways, expressing concern about their safety. As a result, communities with large Indian American populations are seeing less activity, harming local businesses.
Indian Americans are a significant part of American society. We live in every state. We work at every level in every industry. We are immigrants and native-born Americans, school children and retirees, taxicab drivers and tech CEOs, neighbors and friends. We contribute more than $750 billion every year in consumer spending and federal taxes, and we are responsible for the creation of over 11 million jobs. Despite all this, we are under attack.
Yet, in online extremist spaces, anti-South Asian threats of violence rose 88% and anti-South Asian slurs rose 75% in the months immediately after Trump’s reelection And since May 2025, we have seen another surge. In August 2025 alone, nearly 57,200 slurs targeting South Asians were mentioned in violent extremist online spaces, and the numbers continue to remain high. This hatred isn’t limited to the internet, either. Research has shown that a rise in racial slurs online can coincide with a rise in on-the-ground violence. We’ve received reports from Indian people throughout the U.S. who have been the target of racist attacks while walking down the street, eating at a restaurant, driving their cars or even playing at the park with their children.
At the same time, Indian Americans are breaking representation records. Zohran Mamdani is now mayor of the largest city in the U.S., and Virginia Rep. Ghazala Hashmi is the first Muslim woman in the nation elected to statewide office. Leaders like Rep. Pramila Jayapal, FBI director Kash Patel, and business icons like Sundar Pichai and Satya Nadella are familiar faces on the news and in the halls of power. But rather than being celebrated, they face relentless attacks that use their race as a weapon. Most astonishing is the lack of response on both sides of the aisle. Their silence serves to normalize this conduct, which fuels greater hate.
These attacks don’t happen in a vacuum. There is a vicious cycle of racist rhetoric, exclusionary policies and acts of hate. Racist rhetoric that dehumanizes Indian Americans leads to racist policies that single us out and use us as scapegoats. Those policies, in turn, give permission to the people who want to attack us.
That cycle is playing out in real time. Chandler Langevin, a city councilmember in Palm Bay, Florida, claimed on X that not a single Indian cares about the United States, calling on President Trump to “Deport every Indian immediately.” Elon Musk rehired Marko Elez after the DOGE team member made a series of racist posts calling for people to “Normalize Indian Hate” and demanding a “eugenics-based immigration policy.” These aren’t anonymous YouTube comments. These are people who make decisions that impact the lives of millions.
This rhetoric builds popular support for policies intended to exclude Indian Americans, from gutting visa programs and raising H-1B visa fees to $100,000 to ICE raids and crackdowns on international students. The administration is also defunding and dismantling anti-hate programs that play a vital role in keeping Indian Americans and other communities of color safe.
These policies, in turn, give permission for acts of hate against Indian Americans. And those who perpetrate those don’t stop to check our immigration status. They act because of someone’s skin color, name, religion or culture.
To protect our families and fight back against this surge of racism, we have to act. When we see anti-Indian policies, we must speak out and contact our legislators and explain how those policies impact us all. When politicians or government leaders incorporate anti-Indian talking points or play to harmful stereotypes, we need to hold them accountable. And we must do more than vote in every election. Indian Americans must become more civically engaged year-round. Organizations like Indian American Impact and Stop AAPI Hate run canvasses, phonebanks and other outreach efforts to mobilize our community in support of candidates who truly represent our interests, as so many Indian Americans and other South Asians did for Zohran Mamdani in NYC.
We deserve to feel safe when we go to school and work, walk down the street or go to a restaurant. Indian Americans are a growing and increasingly vital part of the United States. By recognizing our power as a community, we can protect our future.