New Delhi: Fourteen Indians were attacked in the US in 2025, the highest number recorded for any country, according to the Ministry of External Affairs data, released in response to a Lok Sabha question on Thursday. The figure increased by 27% compared to 2024’s data, which saw 11 attacks against Indians by the US.
In an earlier response in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh had said that the number of reported incidents involving Indians in the US in 2025 had already exceeded the total recorded in any of the previous four years.
Other countries that recorded a rise in attacks on Indians included the UAE, which reported 12 incidents in 2025, up from three in 2021; Mali, which recorded 11 incidents in 2025 after reporting none in the previous four years; and Ireland, which reported 10 incidents in 2025.
In Ireland, reported attacks have risen progressively since 2021, with one incident recorded that year, followed by five in 2023 and seven in 2024.
The figures come amid heightened debate in the US over immigration, particularly the H-1B visa programme, under which Indians make up the largest group of recipients. Online hostility towards Indian immigrants and South Asians also intensified in parts of the American far right after President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January 2025.
A Lowy Institute report described an “alarming surge” in online hate targeting South Asians in the early months of 2025, including on platforms such as 4chan, X and Reddit. CNN has also reported on the growing prominence of Indian immigrants and Indian Americans as targets of an increasingly anti-immigrant movement.
Much of the hostility has centred on H-1B workers and allegations of abuse of the immigration system.
The rise in reported attacks comes amid tensions in India-US relations, with the two countries differing over trade and India’s purchases of Russian oil. The Trump administration’s approach towards Pakistan has also emerged as another source of friction.
The MEA’s data, however, does not provide details about the nature of the reported attacks, the circumstances in which they occurred, whether they were motivated by race or nationality, or how many resulted in arrests or prosecutions.
The ministry has described the figures as instances of attacks on Indians living abroad and said its diplomatic missions take up such cases with local authorities.
The 14 attacks reported in the US in 2025 nevertheless stand out in the government’s five-year data, with no other country recording as many incidents in a single year.
(Edited by Jeyasri AT)
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