The MAGA-Hindu Supremacist Connection Endangers All Immigrants: Savera Coalition Statement on Escalation of Anti-Immigrant Attacks
The Hindu supremacist movement has enthusiastically welcomed Trump’s return to power, vindicating Savera’s warnings about far-right fringes of ethnic and religious minorities enabling white supremacy. Yet, as Trump’s first week has shown, this alliance hides a contradiction: most Hindu Americans—and Indian Americans more broadly—are non-white immigrants who fall outside MAGA’s vision of American society. By aligning with MAGA, Hindu supremacists empower forces that endanger our community—no one has forgotten the attacks on Indian Americans during Trump’s first administration.
Trump’s second term has brought new attacks. Before the inauguration, MAGA unleashed waves of vile anti-Indian racism and targeted the H-1B visa, a key driver of Indian American immigration. On day one, Trump signed an unconstitutional executive order ending birthright citizenship for children of both undocumented and documented immigrants. Shortly after, the far-right Indian government collaborated with Trump to deport 18,000 Indians. Students are quitting jobs they need to survive in America, even as MAGA targets the OPT period, their only hope of repaying substantial loans. Parents of Indians in the U.S. with valid visas are being sent back, while the MAGA-inspired Laken Riley Act threatens deportation for Indian nationals merely accused, not convicted, of crimes. All of these escalate the Biden administration’s own punishing spate of deportations.
Hindu supremacists believed they could escape MAGA’s bigotry by framing Indian immigrants as a “model minority” superior to other, less “desirable” communities of color. This mindset has led them to attack our sibling communities. The VHP-A has platformed notorious anti-Muslim extremists like Robert Spencer, and dismissed other migrant communities as stuck in a “ghetto stage” that Indian Americans supposedly “avoided”—despite Indians, many of them Hindus, being the third-largest undocumented population in the U.S.
Hindu supremacists’ indifference, and, at times, overt hostility toward undocumented immigrants most at risk from the Trump Administration’s draconian anti-migrant crackdown show their willingness to sacrifice others, including Indian and Hindu undocumented groups, to align with MAGA. This includes hurting communities of color more broadly—from praising the end of affirmative action, to the Hindu American Foundation joining far-right groups in attacking efforts to combat racism in education.
What this moment demands of all of us—Indian and non-Indian alike—is to reject divisive politics in favor of solidarity. Instead of letting supremacist forces divide communities of color, we must build coalitions that reflect the true diversity of the Indian diaspora, including people across faiths, across castes, and across immigration and citizenship status—and unite multiracial allies against hate.
Savera forcefully rejects the false binary of “good immigrants” and “bad immigrants,” and the harmful “model minority” stereotype it upholds. As Savera, we stand with immigrant rights organizations and immigrant communities in calling for:
- Ending border militarization, the inhumane treatment of detained migrants, raids, and mass deportation practices;
- Ending deportation and blocking of refugees, asylum seekers, those on Temporary Protected Status, and survivors of human trafficking, and ensuring they are able to pursue justice in a timely manner. These draconian measures harm us all, and disproportionately affects Muslim, Sikh, and Dalit asylees, as well as fellow South Asian communities of Afghan, Sri Lankan, and Nepali immigrants who came through these pathways;
- Rejecting Trump’s blatantly unconstitutional and discriminatory order threatening a new Muslim travel ban;
- Upholding the constitutional imperative of birthright citizenship for all people born in the United States;
- Allowing child dependents of long-term visa holders, who have spent their entire lives in the U.S., to obtain permanent residency in order to avoid “aging out” of their parents’ visa status;
- Removing unfair barriers that have contributed to the unconscionable Green Card backlog, including country caps for Green Cards;
- Creating a fair and just immigration system that provides clear pathways to citizenship for all immigrants.