Indians working in high-skilled sectors in US face racist backlash, claims report

AUndulation of enmity targeting people of amerindic origination in the United States is causation concern as public meetings, political campaigns and online platforms see a surge in openly racist rhetoric directed at Indians.The backlash was on display at a recent City Council meeting in Frisco, a fast-growing suburb north of Dallas in Texas where about one-third of residents are of Asian heritage, The New York Times reported. During nearly two hours of public comments, several speakers described what they called an “Indian takeover” of their city. Some alleged, without offering proof, that Indians working in high-skilled sectors were “fraudsters” and “low-quality scammers.” One speaker, identifying himself as a college student, declared, “We must maintain our Rhodesia,” invoking the former white-ruled colony in Africa that later became Zimbabwe.City leaders attempted to distance themselves from the remarks. Frisco Mayor Jeff Cheney said many of the most inflammatory speakers were “outside agitators” who did not represent the majority of residents. Yet the episode reflects a broader pattern across the US in which Indians — particularly professionals in technology and medicine — are being singled out in debates, NYT reported .In 2023, roughly three-quarters of the approximately 400,000 approved high-skilled worker visa applications in the United States went to Indian nationals, according to the Pew Research Center. The Dallas–Fort Worth region ranked fourth among American metropolitan areas for such approvals that year. While many Indian professionals work in software and engineering roles, critics often link their presence to job losses among Americans.Those critics frequently cite the 2015 case in which 250 technology employees at Walt Disney World in Florida were laid off and asked to train their replacements with H-1B visas. In 2024, a federal jury found that Cognizant, a major information technology outsourcing company and one of the largest recipients of these visas, had intentionally discriminated for years against non-Indian employees.But legitimate policy concerns are increasingly being overshadowed by hate speech. Stop AAPI Hate, a nonprofit that tracks discrimination against Asian Americans, reported that between January 2023 and December 2025, the use of anti-South Asian slurs in online spaces associated with targeted violence rose by 115%, NYT reported. The Center for the Study of Organized Hate found that posts on X featuring anti-Indian slurs, stereotypes or calls to “deport Indians” garnered 280 million views over roughly two months last year.Stephanie Chan of Stop AAPI Hate said much of the rhetoric echoes the “great replacement” conspiracy theory, which claims white Americans are being supplanted demographically. The old replacement theory accused Jews of taking over, but in this updated version, Indians are portrayed both as elite insiders manipulating systems and as immigrants displacing white workers, NYT reported.The spike in anti-Indian rhetoric accelerated during the 2024 US presidential campaign of Kamala Harris, and surged amid the rise of Zohran Mamdani as New York City mayor. Nearly 80% of anti-Asian slurs online are now directed at South Asians, NYT reported.Aaron Reitz, a Republican candidate for Texas attorney general, wrote on X that counties in the state “may soon be renamed Calcutta, Delhi, & Hyderabad Counties” because of what he described as an “invasion” of Indians. In Palm Bay, Florida, a City Council member was censured after accusing Indians online of coming to the US to “drain our pockets” and calling for mass deportations.Online hostility has also filtered into everyday settings. A video posted on X last August showed shoppers at a Costco in Frisco and labeled the scene “the Indian takeover in full view,” describing it as evidence of “The Great Replacement unfolding.”According to a 2023 US census report, Indians comprise 1.5% of the overall US population but are, on average, among the wealthiest and most educated.