A few days before Christmas, President-elect Donald Trump announced that he was appointing Sriram Krishnan, a Chennai-born Indian tech entrepreneur, as his senior AI advisor. The next day, MAGA darling Laura Loomer chimed in on X to criticize Krishnan’s comments that ostensibly called for elimination of country-specific caps on green cards.
The conversation swiftly turned to the H-1B program, a foreign worker visa that allows U.S. employers to hire noncitizens for specialty occupations, with figures like Elon Musk chiming in to defend the need for skilled immigration. By early Christmas morning, the internet was aflame in what many have called a MAGA civil war.
While the Trump coalition presented an impressive display of unity pre-election, one has to wonder whether this debate is not indicative of a far vaster policy schism within the party between the tech right and the MAGA base. The latter has been unabashed in their vitriolic and blatantly racist attacks against Indian-Americans, turning even on former presidential hopeful and current DOGE appointee Vivek Ramaswamy after he wrote on X that “American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long.” Loomer, for her part, spent much of Christmas Day labeling Indian immigrants as “third-world invaders” who were “highly skilled at stealing American jobs.”
I moved to the United States over eight years ago, and I have never felt as unwelcome in this country as I did this past Christmas. This is not to say I am surprised by the attacks by the far right; vehement racism has been MAGA’s modus operandi since the beginning. I am, however, disappointed by the reactions of liberals and leftists alike, which have ranged from outright glee at the prospect of GOP division to additional criticism of the H-1B program.
It would be a mistake for the left to become negatively polarized against skilled immigration because of Elon Musk’s championing of it. Without a doubt, H-1B begs for reform — to prevent exploitation of foreign workers by employers and ensure that legal immigration to the United States is not reduced to a game of mere chance. However, the number of H-1B visas issued per fiscal year is capped at 65,000 per year — too small a number to be responsible for stealing all the available employment opportunities from patriots and Christians alike. In aiming to fear-monger and spread flagrant untruths, the dialogue perpetuated by the nativist faction of the Trump coalition attempted to reduce my people to an amalgam of criminals, pagans and frauds.
I had hoped that the bigotry would remain confined to online spaces, but to no avail. On New Year’s Eve, a family-friend in Wake County was approached on her morning walk by a white woman, who threatened to set her dog loose on my friend if she did not go back to India. By propping up the perpetrators of truly violent and racist rhetoric — like Laura Loomer and her associates — the MAGA faction has made permissible verbal and even physical assault on their fellow Americans. Such barbarity is no longer classifiable as “extreme,” but barely worthy of an eyebrow-raise within the Trump coalition.
In the wake of the new year, I’ve spent some time reflecting on my own sense of patriotism. I have no extended family in the United States. My parents, my brother and I spend our Thankgivings and Christmases with one another, often traveling the country and wishing our loved ones well from across the world via FaceTime. I no longer speak any Indian language with ease; English is my first and only instinct. This is the story of countless immigrants across the United States.
These are the sacrifices that we justify in our dedication to this country. I do not take them lightly; I know what they have been for. I would not give up my own blood for a nation I did not love. So, invasion or not, no matter what Laura Loomer thinks, I am an American — and I have no intention of leaving my country behind.
