New research points to a sharp rise in online abuse and hate incidents targeting South Asian communities, amid growing immigration tensions in the United States
A sharp rise in anti-South Asian hate in the United States is raising concern among community organisations, with Indians and other South Asian groups increasingly facing racist abuse both online and in public.
A September 2026 report by Stop AAPI Hate found that the use of anti-South Asian slurs in online spaces rose by 109 per cent between January 2023 and December 2025. The organisation said South Asians accounted for 71 per cent of anti-Asian threats of violence recorded between August 2024 and December 2025.
The report also found that 48 per cent of South Asian adults surveyed said they had experienced a hate act in 2025 because of their race, ethnicity or nationality. More than half said they or another Asian American or Pacific Islander person in their community had been affected by changing immigration policies or anti-immigrant sentiment.
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The findings have renewed attention on the treatment of Indian Americans amid heated debates over immigration, employment and the H-1B visa programme
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Stop AAPI Hate has previously reported that political arguments surrounding H-1B visas have sometimes been accompanied by claims portraying South Asian immigrants as taking American jobs
Indian-origin public figures have also been drawn into the debate. US Second Lady Usha Vance has faced racist attacks over her Indian and Hindu heritage, while politicians including Vivek Ramaswamy and Harmeet Dhillon have also faced racial abuse, according to reports cited by NDTV.
The issue extends beyond online platforms. In September, a Sikh truck driver was stabbed in California in an incident that came amid heightened concern over anti-South Asian rhetoric. Community representatives said the attack had increased anxiety among Indian and other South Asian truck drivers.
Researchers caution that online data does not represent every incident experienced by the community, while hate incidents that do not involve criminal conduct may not appear in official crime statistics.
The latest findings nevertheless highlight growing concerns about racism, immigration rhetoric and the safety of South Asian communities in the US.
