‘Anti-India slurs cross 280 million views’: How H-1B visa debate is sparking hate speech in US

US President Donald Trump has also aided in the rhetoric by using strong anti-immigration language and launching a crackdown on immigrants in the country via agencies like Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Trump, while acknowledging that the US needs some foreign skilled workers, introduced a $100,000 fee for some new H-1B visa applicants.

H-1B visa debate in city meeting

According to a NYT report, in a nearly two-hour open forum held this month in Frisco, Texas, some opponents of the H-1B visa spoke about job losses and wage concerns, while the South Asian residents expressed their fear over the rhetoric against the visas.

However, Frisco’s leaders stressed the value and contributions of its population during the open floor. Frisco, which is a rapidly growing suburb in the north of Dallas, has one-third of its population belonging to Asian heritage.

Frisco’s Mayor Jeff Cheney issued a statement which was more of damage control, where he called the speakers at the open forum “outside agitators”, but the discourse highlighted the anger people are having over the visa programme and how it has aided in igniting a racist rhetoric against the Indian community across the United States, NYT reported.

Anti-India sentiments on the rise

Some of the Asian-American advocacy groups have reportedly said significant policy debates related to H-1B visas have been increasingly outweighed by a surge in hate speech targeting South Asians.

Quoting Stop AAPI Hate, the NYT reported that between January 2023 and December 2025, the use of anti-South Asian slurs in online spaces, which are linked with targeted violence, rose by 115 per cent.

In a similar report by the Center for the Study of Organized Hate, a rise in anti-India slurs, stereotypes or messages like “deport Indians” garnered traction of over 280 million views in about two months last summer, NYT reported. Such rhetoric and anti-India slurs have been denounced by Indian-American conservatives like Vivek Ramaswamy and Dinesh D’Souza.

In a career spanning 40 years, I have never encountered this type of rhetoric. The Right never used to talk like this. So who on our side has legitimized this type of vile degradation? It’s a question worth thinking about. https://t.co/C1urOBZhBd

— Dinesh D'Souza (@DineshDSouza) October 21, 2025

“In a career spanning 40 years, I have never encountered this type of rhetoric. The Right never used to talk like this. So who on our side has legitimized this type of vile degradation? It’s a question worth thinking about,” wrote Dinesh D’Souza in a post on X.

What is H-1B visa, and why is it controversial?

The H-1B visa programme, which was created in the US in 1990, allows American companies to hire foreign workers in specialised fields such as technology, medicine and engineering. The programme allows up to 85,000 foreign workers to fill the specialised roles every year; however, the applications approved by the administration remain on a higher side due to renewals and extensions.

A report by the Pew Research Center showed that close to 300,000 Indians received the H-1B visas out of the 400,000 approved by the US administration in 2023. Many of those whose H-1B visa gets approved work as software programmers and computer engineers.

H-1B visa rules are made in a way to protect the interests of American workers, and economists have found that H-1B visa holders boost American productivity and wages, the NYT reported. The technology industry has repeatedly said that they require skilled foreign workers due to a lack of qualified Americans.

However, critics, including labour unions, have argued that the H-1B visa programme is vulnerable to displacing American workers and abuse. Examples have been cited where an IT company, Cognizant, which is among the top recipients of H-1B visas, had intentionally discriminated against non-Indian employees for years, a federal jury ruled in 2024.