Whose America is it? In US, Indians face the heat

In the wake of Trump's H-1B visa crackdown, a troubling backlash against the Indian American community is gaining momentum. What began as anonymous grumbling online has now spilled into the open, with racist comments voiced publicly and unapologetically.

- Frank F Islam

Suddenly, a community once celebrated as a shining example of immigrant success finds itself caught in the crossfire of America’simmigration wars. On social media, questions about loyalty to the US are raised with increasing frequency. Recently, a Florida city councilman posted on X: “There’s nota single Indian that cares about the United States” and “Deport every Indian immediately.” Even public celebrations of Indian festivals — long encouraged by cities and states as symbols of cultural diversity —are now being recast by critics as signs of “otherness”.

For decades, Indian Americans were widely regarded as a model minority. Both Democratic and Republican leaders regularly extolled the community's achievements. Addressing a rally of more than 100,000 people in Ahmedabad in 2020, President Donald Trump declared: “In America, we have come to know the splendor of Indian culture personally, through the four million Indian Americans living in the United States as our wonderful friends, colleagues, and neighbours... They are truly spectacular people. Indian Americans enrich every aspect of our national life. They are titans of business; the biggest, the best pioneers of science; masters of the art; and innovators of technology like few people have been able to see anywhere in this universe.”

Five years earlier, President Barack Obama was equally effusive. In his 2015 “Address to the People of India” at Siri Fort Auditorium in New Delhi, he reminded the audience: “The United States has the largest Indian diaspora in the world, including some three million proud Indian Americans. They make America stronger, and they tie us together — bonds of family and friendship that allow us to share in each other's success.”