Hate for Desis Is on the Rise — How Do We Respond?

“What’s ‘pajeet’?” asked my husband the other day, looking up from his phone. Thanks to a terminally online son, I did know the sad answer — pajeet is a racial slur aimed at Indian Americans frequently used in anonymous internet forums like 4Chan and 8Chan, and, now, increasingly in social media spaces like X. For anyone who is even moderately online, the rising rhetoric against Desis has been inescapable in the last year. It’s not just perception — research and reporting show that anti-Indian hate online is actually on the rise. 

A 2025 report by the Center for the Study of Organized Hate (CSOH) looked at anti-Indian posts on X (formerly Twitter) over just three months — July to September 2025. Here’s what they found:

• 680 high-engagement posts targeting Indians or Indian-origin communities

• Over 281 million views for those posts

• Nearly 70% focused on immigration, deportation, or exclusion

• Posts lump all Indians together, without distinguishing between citizens, visa holders, or students

These posts have reached millions of people and often framed Indians as economic or cultural threats. 

Amplification of Isolated Incidents

CSOH also found that single events, like a tragic accident involving a Sikh driver, were used to generate mass hostility. That one incident led to 74 anti-Indian posts that reached nearly 95 million views. The event itself became secondary — the posts used it to blame an entire community. This is a common tactic in online hate ecosystems: a small spark gets blown up into a broad, racialized narrative. 

Why Is This Happening Now

1. Immigration and job narratives

A lot of anti-Indian posts focus on visas, especially H-1B work visas. Indians make up the largest group of H-1B holders in the U.S., so when people talk about “job competition” online, Indians are often singled out, whether fairly or not. 

2. Politics

A New York Times analysis notes that Indian Americans — despite being among the most economically successful immigrant groups — are increasingly getting caught in broader white supremacist ideological narratives. Advisers close to President Trump, like Stephen Miller, have thinly veiled white nationalist beliefs, which means that there is implied sanction from the very top for hate speech aimed at brown and black Americans. President Trump himself has attempted to modify or eliminate birthright citizenship and has referred to immigrants in derogatory terms. The signalling from the very top echelons of power has emboldened rank-and-file Republicans and right-wing media operatives to spew their hate without consequences.

3. Social media dynamics

CSOH also points out a structural problem: platforms reward engagement. Content that is inflammatory or dehumanizing often travels farther than calm, factual posts — even when it’s misleading or false. We Desis may be giving online hate some oxygen too, by forwarding such posts widely and reacting to them.

Reaping the Hate

Indian Americans have long been considered a reliable Democratic voting bloc, but the community has seen a distinct rightward shift during the Trump years — rhetoric against Muslims, attacks on affirmative action, and cruelty towards undocumented immigrants have found resonance in a privileged segment of the Desi population who consider themselves more closely aligned with the far-right elements in this country. Unsurprisingly, the hatred towards “some” immigrants has rapidly grown to encompass “all” immigrants. Even right-wing Desis in the administration have not been spared.

• When FBI Director Kash Patel wished his followers on X a happy Diwali, far-right Christian nationalist and white nationalist accounts flooded his post with bigoted memes and rhetoric. “Go back home and worship your sand demons,” a far-right pastor wrote. “Get the f**k out of my country,” read another reply.

• A former SpaceX and Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) employee, 25-year-old Marko Elez posted the alarming statement: “Normalize Indian hate.” Elez posted that “99% of Indian H1Bs will be replaced by slightly smarter LLMs.” 

• Vivek Ramaswamy, who was a hardliner on Trump’s signature campaign issue and has commented that undocumented immigrants were “poisoning the blood of the country,” has faced anti-Indian slurs and memes in his campaign for Governor of Ohio. 

How to Respond

1. Get Informed and Spread the Word

   - Have the facts about contributions by undocumented immigrants at your fingertips when having those difficult conversations with Trump-leaning aunties and uncles. For instance, did you know that undocumented immigrants paid $96.7 billion in federal, state, and local taxes in 2022?

   - Who are the bad actors in the administration and government who create and amplify hatred towards non-whites? Join campaigns to vote them out or donate to their opponents in the midterms.

   - Learn about the contributions by black and brown activists in securing the rights that immigrants have today. Use that information to make a persuasive argument for solidarity with the progressive movement and with communities that today form the resistance against ICE and its cruelties. 

2. Document and Share: If you see threatening or abusive content, save screenshots, links, and timestamps. Report it both to the platform and to organizations that track hate speech. This increases the chances it gets addressed.

3. Know Your Rights: Confusion about citizenship, visas, or legal protections can worsen fear. Knowing what you are legally entitled to can help you respond confidently and safely.

4. Build solidarity: We are stronger together. Join communities like They See Blue that are working to elect immigrant-friendly, progressive, civil-rights prioritizing candidates. 

Creating divisions in society is Tactic #1 in the authoritarian playbook. Resources in the most prosperous country in the world are not scarce, nor are they being siphoned off by immigrants (undocumented or otherwise). Instead, wealth is flowing to a very small number of people at the very top, whose interest in maintaining their influence and power is causing them to prop up a political system that succeeds by pitting Americans against each other. Let’s not fall for these simple ploys. 

One of the most effective ways of combating xenophobia in America is to elect public servants who believe in the ideal of a pluralistic society. Join our efforts to do that.