When President Joe Biden signed the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act on May 20, 2021, during Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, many hoped that one of the darkest social consequences of the pandemic would gradually fade away. The law was intended to make reporting hate crimes easier and more accessible at the local and state levels, speed up investigations, improve support for victims, and send a clear message that racism against Asian Americans has no place in the United States.
Five years later, however, it has become clear that the problem neither began with the pandemic nor ended when it subsided. Anti-Asian hate remains a persistent feature of American society. Hate crimes and hate incidents targeting Asian Americans remain nearly three times higher than they were before COVID. The pandemic merely exposed prejudices that had existed long before it: the tendency to view Americans of Asian descent as perpetual foreigners whose loyalty and belonging are always questioned. Asian Americans cannot hide their ethnicity. They are identified by their appearance.
Because they do not resemble what many still perceive to be the „typical American,” they are often treated as outsiders who can never fully belong. This perception bears little resemblance to reality, yet the stigma persists, fueling exclusion, harassment, and hate crimes. These issues were the focus of a recent media briefing hosted by American Community Media featuring John C. Yang, President and Executive Director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice; Stephanie Chan, Director of Data and Research at Stop AAPI Hate; Sameer Hossain, Managing Director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council; and Mannirmal Kaur, Senior Federal Policy Manager at the Sikh Coalition.
According to Stop AAPI Hate and FBI data, hundreds of officially recorded hate crimes in 2025 targeted Asian Americans, Sikh communities, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander populations. The FBI’s numbers alone are troubling, but experts caution that they represent only the tip of the iceberg. Many victims never contact law enforcement.
A survey conducted by Stop AAPI Hate and the NORC research center at the University of Chicago found that nearly half of Asian American and Pacific Islander adults experienced some form of hate-related incident during the previous year. Forty-four percent reported harassment, nearly one-quarter experienced institutional discrimination, and 13 percent said they had been physically assaulted or threatened. Many were verbally abused in public, humiliated at work or school, and increasingly reported being treated as foreigners despite being American citizens.
A 2024 study highlighted by The Guardian found that 40 percent of those who experienced hate never told even family members or friends what had happened. Among victims of incidents that legally qualified as hate crimes, 66 percent never reported them to authorities because they believed nothing would be done or felt their experiences would not be taken seriously.
Although FBI data indicate that anti-Asian hate crimes have declined somewhat from their pandemic peak, they remain nearly three times higher than pre-pandemic levels. Civil rights organizations argue that this demonstrates anti-Asian hate was never a temporary phenomenon.
The Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism previously found that hate crimes targeting Asians in major American cities rose by 150 percent in 2020 and increased by an additional 339 percent in 2021. According to the latest AP-NORC survey, approximately 30 percent of AAPI adults fear they will experience racial discrimination during the next five years, even though overt attacks have modestly declined. A 2025 Stop AAPI Hate survey found that 53 percent of AAPI adults expect anti-Asian hate crimes to continue increasing, while 62 percent believe the current anti-immigrant political climate is making the situation worse. Data from the Sikh Coalition show that Sikhs remain the third most frequently targeted religious group in the United States. In 2024, the FBI recorded 142 anti-Sikh hate crimes. By comparison, 1,938 anti-Semitic incidents and 228 anti-Muslim hate crimes were reported during the same period.
John C. Yang said one of the greatest dangers is that anti-immigrant rhetoric has once again entered the political mainstream. In his view, hate is fueled not only by assaults committed on the street but also by political messages portraying certain groups as threats, intruders, or the source of America’s problems. Yang warned that xenophobic rhetoric has reached historic levels and that it is particularly troubling when the President of the United States contributes to it.
During Donald Trump’s second presidency, statements provoking fear within Asian communities have intensified. In April, Trump shared comments by radio host Michael Savage describing India and China as „hellhole countries” and characterizing immigrants from those nations as „laptop gangsters.” Several Asian American organizations warned that such rhetoric legitimizes prejudice and reinforces the notion that some Americans are less American than others.
„The outbursts also suggested that Asian Americans are somehow disloyal to this country and incapable of integrating the way Europeans supposedly did in the past,” Yang said. „When we have a federal government that not only fails to prevent hate incidents but actively engages in rhetoric and behavior that encourages them, all Americans suffer.”
According to FBI Uniform Crime Reporting data, of the 5,810 race- and ethnicity-based hate crimes reported last year, 291 targeted Asian Americans, 243 targeted Sikhs, and 214 targeted Muslims. Thirty-four targeted Buddhists, 31 targeted Hindus, and 20 targeted Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. Altogether, 833 hate crimes affected AANHPI communities. Black Americans remained the largest group of victims of bias-motivated crimes, with 2,792 incidents reported. Anti-Semitism also remained widespread, with 1,395 hate crimes targeting Jewish people. FBI data remain incomplete because reporting by law enforcement agencies is voluntary, and there is currently no federal requirement mandating hate crime reporting.
Stephanie Chan noted that the nature of anti-Asian hate has evolved. During COVID, Chinese people were blamed for the virus. Today, anti-Asian racism has increasingly merged with broader anti-immigrant sentiment. A Korean American woman was shoved in a fast-food restaurant while someone shouted that „Trump will deport you.” A multiracial Pacific Islander was threatened online with being reported to immigration authorities despite being a U.S. citizen. An Indian American speaker was publicly called „illegal” and accused of taking jobs from Americans. Such incidents demonstrate that Asian Americans continue to be viewed as perpetual immigrants regardless of how many generations their families have lived in the United States.
Only 22 percent of Asian Americans who experience hate crimes or incidents report them to official authorities, Chan said. „There is very little confidence that anything will happen if they come forward.” She added that online hatred directed at South Asians surged during Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign, Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral campaign, and amid the increased visibility of Usha Vance, the wife of Vice President J.D. Vance.
Sameer Hossain warned that anti-Muslim, anti-South Asian, and anti-Asian hatred often overlap. Perpetrators rarely distinguish among religious or ethnic groups. Prejudice is frequently based on appearance. Sikh men are mistaken for Muslims, Indians for Arabs, and Chinese Americans for foreign agents. The common experience among victims is that they are not seen as fully American.
According to Mannirmal Kaur, the Sikh community has been confronting this phenomenon for generations. Following the September 11 attacks, Sikhs wearing turbans became frequent targets. During the COVID pandemic, Chinese and East Asian communities became the focus of hostility. Today, broader anti-immigrant resentment is once again on the rise. Racism remains the same; it merely finds new faces.
Research also shows that hate takes a profound toll on mental health. Many Asian Americans report anxiety, depression, and a constant sense of vigilance. People avoid public transportation, fear traveling alone, and worry about the safety of elderly relatives and children. Parents fear their children will be bullied at school. Elderly Asians remain especially vulnerable because they were disproportionately targeted during the pandemic years.
One of the most important lessons of the past five years is that combating hate cannot be reduced to criminal prosecutions and police statistics. Education, historical awareness, solidarity among communities, and responsible political leadership all play essential roles. Several states have already made Asian American history a required part of school curricula because research suggests that ignorance fuels prejudice.
Anti-Sikh bias, for example, predates September 11. „Sikhs have experienced hate violence in the United States for more than a century,” Kaur said. Because of their turbans, many Americans assume they are Muslim. She pointed to the 1907 Bellingham riots in Washington state, when angry mobs attacked Sikh mill workers and drove them out of town.
„Racism, bigotry, and xenophobia have become prominent in new and alarming ways within mainstream politics and culture,” Kaur said. She noted that lawmakers across the country have introduced or passed legislation targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. The Small Business Administration has restricted loan access for noncitizens, even though approximately 26 percent of Sikh Americans own small businesses. „Politicians continue to exploit myths such as noncitizen voter fraud, while the White House seeks to end birthright citizenship. Immigrants and communities of color, including Sikhs, feel the effects of these bad-faith, discriminatory policies every day.”
Anti-Asian hate is therefore not a legacy of COVID but a longstanding American problem that the pandemic and renewed anti-immigrant politics brought back into plain view. The question is no longer whether this hatred exists. The question is whether American society is willing to confront it. Because when political leaders repeatedly suggest that some Americans are less American than others, there are always consequences. Prejudice begins with words, then moves into the streets, schools, workplaces, and family life. Five years later, this story is still not over.
