US firms caught in anti-Indian backlash after Trump’s H-1B visa reset

A wave of anti-Indian hostility has swept across corporate America in the wake of the Trump administration’s sweeping overhaul of the H-1B skilled-worker visa programme, turning some of the country’s biggest companies into targets of coordinated online abuse.

FedEx, Walmart and Verizon have all been dragged into the storm, with social media users accusing them of “selling” American jobs to Indian workers — claims companies say are baseless and dangerous.

According to analysts, the backlash reflects a broader spike in xenophobia triggered by new visa rules and an increasingly polarised political climate around immigration and employment.

Under the revised H-1B framework rolled out in September, applicants now face a sharply higher fee of $100,000, along with a wage-based selection system that favours the highest-paid roles. From February, the net tightens further, with US authorities set to prioritise Level-IV H-1B applicants — the top wage bracket — effectively shutting out thousands of skilled migrants.

The Trump administration has defended the changes as a move to “protect American workers”. But rights groups and digital-threat analysts warn the policy shift has emboldened online hate networks that are portraying Indians as “job stealers” and “visa scammers”.

Raqib Naik, executive director of the Center for the Study of Organized Hate, said Indian-American entrepreneurs who received loans from the government-backed Small Business Administration have been singled out in what appear to be organised harassment campaigns. “The discrimination is intensifying, and Indians are increasingly being framed as a threat to American jobs,” he said.

The data underlines the scale of the problem. An analysis by advocacy group Stop AAPI Hate and counterterrorism firm Moonshot found that threats of violence against South Asian communities rose 12% in November, while online slurs targeting South Asians surged 69% over the same period.

The hostility comes even as US companies rely more heavily on Indian talent to fill critical gaps in technology, healthcare and research. Software developers, engineers, doctors and scientists from India continue to be recruited in large numbers as American firms struggle to find enough domestic workers with the required skills.

Tensions boiled over in December after a viral video of a damaged FedEx truck triggered a barrage of racist abuse aimed at the company’s Indian-origin chief executive, Raj Subramaniam. One widely shared post read: “Stop the f****** Indian takeover of our great American companies.”

Right-wing commentators, including Andrew Torba, founder of the social media platform Gab, accused Subramaniam of laying off white American workers and replacing them with Indians — allegations FedEx flatly denied.

“For more than 50 years, FedEx has fostered a merit-based culture that creates opportunity for everyone,” the company said in a statement. “We take great pride that this has resulted in a workforce that represents the diversity of the more than 220 countries and territories we serve.”

The backlash is unfolding alongside a broader retreat from diversity, equity and inclusion policies across corporate America, as dozens of companies scale back DEI programmes following pressure from conservative groups.

Observers say that rollback, combined with tighter immigration rules and charged political rhetoric about jobs, has created a combustible environment in which Indian professionals and businesses are being increasingly singled out — and scapegoated.