Despite the United States being a nation built on native and immigrant sweat and blood, a persistent bias exists toward certain immigrant groups, mainly Indian professionals. Especially those on H-1B visas often find themselves the target of disproportionate scrutiny, hatred, and resentment, as evident on mainstream and social media hate accounts. While many nationalities hold H-1B visas, Indians receive the bulk of the criticism, as observed in the media. The numbers alone do not explain the hostility; the deeper reasons reveal a mix of ideological beliefs about America’s identity.
Ideological forces make Indians uniquely vulnerable to being “othered.” One of those forces is the rise of Christian nationalism, a worldview that is not comfortable with the place of non-Christian immigrants in America, especially Pagans (read as Hindus). Even within contemporary American conservatism, little has been done to recognize the contributions of the Indian voter base or those in politics.
Christian Nationalism, Pagan Marginalization
Let’s be direct: the United States is not legally a Christian nation, but Christian nationalism insists that it should be. This worldview ties real American identity to Christianity and, in some discourse, also to whiteness, leaving Indians in a losing position, sometimes marginalized as non-Christian ‘outsiders,’ yet at other times labeled ‘white-passing’ under shifting definitions of privilege. For people aligned with this ideology, the arrival of Pagan immigrants from Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, or Jain backgrounds isn’t just demographic change; it feels like cultural encroachment. The same isn’t true for those who might be brown, or “other,” as long as they fall within the Abrahamic religious identification – Jews and Muslims. The Founding Fathers held particular views on religious inclusion that seem to have been lost in today’s American political landscape.
Indians, who are now one of the most visible immigrant groups in American suburbs and professional spaces, have fast become overt and symbolic targets in that religious culture war. Temples, Yoga, Film screenings, Diwali celebrations, and Indian grocery stores, which are perfectly normal expressions of community life, are getting framed as signs of America losing its identity and are frequently attacked, and often, reporting is ignored due to media bias. This may or may not be the majority view, but it is powerful enough in certain political, online, and media spaces to shape perceptions and reinforce bias.
Religion & The Mechanics of “Othering”
Even outside explicitly religious circles, Indians often face a process of othering, being perceived as permanently foreign, no matter how long they’ve resided in the U.S. or how much they’ve contributed to American society. This plays out in pervasive ways: accents are treated as signs of inferiority, Hindu customs are portrayed as backward or “exotic” or incompatible, and stereotypes about Indians “taking tech jobs” are used to justify exclusion. Layered on top of this is a constant insinuation that Indians don’t assimilate “correctly,” as if there were one acceptable template for cultural expression in America! Othering seems intentional, ramped up, and social media accounts show that much of it is rooted in malice – it casts Indians as outsiders to the American story, even when they are deeply woven into its fabric as long-term contributing members.
Data – High Education, High Income Group
Indian Americans are among the most socioeconomically successful groups in the U.S., with consistently high education and income levels: as of 2023, 77% of those aged 25 and older held at least a bachelor’s degree, including 45% with advanced degrees, compared to 13% of U.S. adults; their median household income was $151,200 ($156,000 for immigrants; $120,200 for U.S.-born), while median personal income was $85,300, about 63% higher than the Asian American median of $52,400. Full-time workers earned a median of $106,400, versus $75,000 for Asians overall, and only 6% lived in poverty, lower than the Asian average of 10%; historically, Indian Americans have maintained high educational attainment, with 70–79% holding college degrees, and data Pew survey data from 2021 records a median household income of $123,700, nearly double the national average.
Layoffs? Blame the Indian engineers. Outsourcing scandals? Blame the Indian in call centers. Frustration gets displaced onto people who have little power over the system in he first place. This, combined with economic scapegoating and the ideological hostility of Christian nationalism, results in a potent form of bias. Also, the Indians have shown little interest in participating in local and national politics. Those who have (think Vivek Ramaswamy) are constantly being reminded about their non-Abrahamic faith(s), and therefore marginalized and ridiculed in the political arena.
In Sum
Indian immigrants aren’t imagining the hostility. It exists in the racist narratives and ideological beliefs about who belongs in America. Some of this bias is subtle and cultural; much seems overt and rooted in hyper-Christian-nationalist identity politics. But all of it reinforces the same message – that Indians remain “outsiders,” regardless of their valuable contributions. Naming these dynamics clearly is the first step toward dismantling the path dependencies that fuel bias against Indians and other Pagan communities, and toward ensuring that the First Amendment is genuinely upheld.
References
Pew Research Center. (2025, May 1). Facts about Indians in the U.S. https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/fact-sheet/asian-americans-indians-in-the-u-s/ (Pew Research Center)
Pew Research Center. (2025, May 1). Methodology: Asian American fact sheets. https://www.pewresearch.org/race-and-ethnicity/2025/05/01/fact-sheets-asian-americans-methodology/ (Pew Research Center)
Pew Research Center. (2024, August 6). Indian Americans: A survey data snapshot. https://www.pewresearch.org/2024/08/06/indian-americans-a-survey-data-snapshot/ (Pew Research Center)
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Image: Internet