Last winter, while Pooja Sethi was canvassing to become the Democratic candidate for the Texas house of representatives, she received a text from a staff member alerting her to a post on X. The Turning Point USA influencer Savanah Hernandez – a Trump supporter known for creating videos that target immigrants – had posted a photo of Sethi’s campaign banner with the caption: “Welcome to politics in Texas.” The responses were so vile, Sethi said, “that I called my team and I said I’m going to go home because I need to be with my son. I’m a little scared about what’s happening right now.” The far right even turned her name into a racist slogan: “Don’t Pooja my Texas.” If elected, Sethi will become the first Asian Democratic woman and south Asian woman in the Texas legislature.
I didn’t know that this was going to be a thing,” said Sethi to a room of about 50 south Asians gathered at a private community listening session on anti-south Asian hate in Austin at the height of election season in October. The event, which included Washington congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, was hosted by Indian American Impact, a nonpartisan group that supports south Asian candidates and voter engagement. Across the country, anti-south Asian hate has spiked since Trump took office.
According to the Center for the Study of Organized Hate (CSOH), online rhetoric against south Asians surged by 240% between January 2024 and June 2026. In addition to citing xenophobia and racism, the report finds that economic resentment casting south Asians as “invaders” and “job thieves”, increased visibility in politics, and anti-migrant policies that include Trump’s prohibitive annual fee on H1-B visa applications, have contributed to the sharp rise in hate against south Asian communities of all faiths and nationalities. Rightwing public officials too have ramped up the xenophobic and racist rhetoric ahead of the midterm election: in September, on X, the Department of Homeland Security posted an AI-generated image resembling a movie poster that featured a Sikh man facing off against a character that looked like Optimus Prime from Transformers.
The caption read: “America for Americans. Get off our roads, you don’t know how to drive Mr. Singh.” The agency deleted the image amid backlash.
Days later, Bo French, the Republican candidate for the Texas railroad commission, posted a photo of a photo of what appeared to be majority south Asian American UT Austin students celebrating the school’s football win with the caption: “I heard UT graduation this year look like this, I didn’t believe it, the problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined.” This rhetoric stokes fear and translates into physical violence, says Chintan Patel, executive director of Indian American Impact. In October – the day before Indian American Impact’s event in Austin – news broke of an attempted mass shooting at a Hindu temple in Aurora, Illinois, where a self-described white supremacist armed with a rifle and body armor had planned to “kill Indian people”. Texas has become the “ground zero” for anti-south Asian hate, says Chanda Parbhoo, founder and executive director of nonpartisan voter engagement nonprofit South Asian American Voter Empowerment of Texas Education Fund (SAAVETX EF).
According to 2021 US census estimates, more than 600,000 south Asians live in Texas – the second-largest population of south Asians in the country behind California. South Asians make up one of the state’s fastest growing ethnic groups. Unlike California, however, Texas is a breeding ground for far-right policies that then travel to other state legislatures across the country.
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