New Delhi: A new front has opened in the US-India relationship, not in boardrooms or diplomatic corridors, but across American conservative media and social platforms. Prominent right-wing commentators, many with millions of followers, have unleashed a campaign targeting Indian workers, students, and outsourcing industries, accusing them of displacing American jobs while simultaneously benefitting from US opportunities.
Fox News host Laura Ingraham set the tone with a sharp post on X: “Don’t forget that any trade deal with India will require us to give them more visas. I’d rather not pay them in visas and trade deficits. Let Modi see what terms he can get from Xi instead.” Her warning, aimed at linking immigration to trade disputes, quickly gained traction in conservative circles.
Donald Trump ally and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk echoed her remarks with even harsher rhetoric. “America does not need more visas for people from India. Perhaps no form of legal immigration has so displaced American workers as those from India. Enough already. We’re full. Let’s finally put our own people first,” he declared, reinforcing the argument that Indian migration is a threat to US workers.
Adding fuel to the fire, far-right influencer Jack Posobiec called for punitive economic action. In two separate posts, he demanded “100% tariffs on all foreign call centers and remote workers,” framing Indian outsourcing as an attack on American livelihoods.
The wave of commentary comes at a politically sensitive moment. In 2024, Indian Americans traditionally loyal to the Democratic Party shifted significantly toward Republicans, frustrated by progressive overreach. That support, however, now appears to be fraying.
Several Indian-American conservatives expressed alarm at the rhetoric. One social media user, who had voted Republican for the first time last year, wrote: “I know so many Indian-American voters who went GOP in 2024, only to regret it just months later seeing this rhetoric. Limit visas, fine. But this is blatant racism.”
Others, including journalist Billy Binion, called out the hypocrisy. “Call this what it is: entitlement. Some conservatives don’t want competition from hardworking immigrants who outwork and outperform them. And here I thought progressives were the ones against merit.”
The online backlash coincides with policy decisions that have already strained ties. President Donald Trump’s administration has doubled tariffs on Indian goods to 50 per cent surpassing even the 30 per cent levies imposed on China. At the same time, Washington has revoked thousands of student visas for Indians while maintaining pathways for over 600,000 Chinese students, a contrast critics say exposes double standards.
The stakes are high. Indians account for nearly three-quarters of H-1B visa holders and form the backbone of the US tech industry, holding senior positions in companies like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon. Over 200,000 Indian students study in the United States, generating billions for American universities and local economies. Curtailing these flows, experts warn, could undercut US competitiveness in fields like artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and clean energy areas where India has become a vital partner.
Indian-American Congressman Ro Khanna sharply criticised the Trump administration’s approach. “We can’t allow the ego of Donald Trump to destroy a strategic relationship with India, one that is central to ensuring America leads, not China,” he said.
For its part, New Delhi has pushed back, calling the tariffs “unfair and unjustified” while defending its energy imports from Russia as a matter of national interest. India has stressed that its partnership with the US is too valuable to be reduced to immigration quotas and tariff battles.
Yet the rhetoric from US conservative voices suggests a shift that goes beyond trade numbers. What began as an economic dispute is now veering into cultural and racial territory threatening to erode a partnership that has been carefully built over decades by leaders across party lines.