Suddenly, a community once celebrated as a shining example of immigrant success finds itself caught in the crossfire of America’s immigration 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 not a 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.”
For decades, Indian Americans have been among the most successful immigrant groups in the US. Since the introduction of the H-1B visa programme in 1992, Indian professionals — particularly in technology — have powered Silicon Valley, driven innovation, and transformed industries. Today, Indian American households have a median income nearly twice that of the national average, reflecting not only their prominence in technology and science but also growing success in hospitality, health care, and entrepreneurship. The community has risen in political influence too. With six members of Congress, numerous statewide officeholders, and even a former vice president of Indian descent, Indian Americans are more visible than ever before in US public life.
Yet, because of recent initiatives and events, as the community’s visibility and success have grown, so too has resentment. The same H-1B visa programme that created pathways for thousands of Indian engineers and scientists is now being cast as a symbol of unfair competition. More than 70% of H-1B visas go to Indian nationals. As a result, attacks on the programme have become shorthand for attacks on Indian immigrants themselves.
This hostility is not new. Resentment against immigrants, particularly those from poorer parts of the world, has long shaped Western politics. In Europe, refugees and immigrants are often accused of diluting local cultures or draining welfare systems. In the US, the narrative has shifted with each wave of arrivals — Irish, Italians, Chinese, Mexicans, and now Indians. What makes today’s climate distinct is the political machinery amplifying these sentiments. The “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) movement, created and led by Trump, has tapped into economic anxieties to paint immigrants as scapegoats.
While the US macro economy has grown strongly post-Covid, inflation, high interest rates, and soaring housing costs have left many Americans struggling. In addition, the disruptive effects of artificial intelligence (AI) and other transformative technologies are causing unemployment among recent graduates and young professionals, broadening and increasing the economic insecurity. In this atmosphere, restrictions on H-1B visas are not only tolerated but endorsed by many.
Even some Silicon Valley leaders, long reliant on immigrant talent, have cautiously supported calls to rethink the H1-B programme. Their alleged concern is framed as protecting American jobs, but the subtext is clear: Indian immigrants, more than any other group, are caught in the line of fire.
The shift is stark and startling. Within just a few years, Indian Americans have gone from being praised for enriching “every aspect of national life” to being cast as disloyal outsiders. Sadly, at its core, this backlash is about more than visas or economics. It reflects a broader struggle over identity, over what it means to be American in an era of evolving demographic change.
Old-fashioned nationalism has re-emerged, and the idea of America as a diverse pluralistic society is being openly challenged. For MAGA loyalists, “taking America back” means rolling back diversity and inclusion and reinstating a restrictive definition of who belongs.
Indian Americans today occupy a paradoxical place in American society — celebrated for their success, yet targeted for the very same reason. Their story highlights both the promise and precariousness of immigrant life in the US today in which a community that has scaled great heights has become vulnerable to shifting political winds.
The attacks on Indian Americans, framed through the H-1B debate, are not just about visas. They are about belonging, about whether a nation built by immigrants will continue to see newcomers as contributors or as threats. For Indian Americans, the challenge now is to push back against this narrowing vision of America by continuing to lead, to innovate, and to demonstrate that they do indeed enrich every aspect of American life.