Richard Hanania Details Right's Shifting Stance Against Indian Immigrants

Richard Hanania, President of the Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology (CSPI), recently published an article detailing a significant shift within the conservative movement regarding its views on Indian immigrants. In a social media post on September 20, 2025, Hanania shared "More thoughts here" with a link, referring to his September 10, 2025, UnHerd article titled "Why the Right turned on Indians." His commentary highlights how online extremist factions are increasingly shaping mainstream conservative discourse.

Hanania observes that hostility towards Indian immigrants, once largely absent from conservative complaints, has become a growing trend. He notes that this sentiment, often expressed through concerns about H-1B visas and economic competition, reflects a "Groyperification" of the Republican Party. This term refers to the spiritual takeover of the GOP by followers of online personalities like Nick Fuentes, who wield significant influence over younger male conservatives.

The article contrasts traditional conservative immigration concerns, such as illegal immigration or welfare dependency, with the current arguments against Indian immigrants. Hanania points out that Indians are among the highest-earning ethnic groups in the U.S., contributing substantially to federal taxes and having negligible crime rates. He argues that economic objections, like the "lump-of-labor" fallacy, are selectively applied, suggesting deeper, racially motivated roots for the animosity.

Hanania, a political science researcher and right-wing commentator, has been a controversial figure, having previously written for alt-right publications under a pseudonym between 2008 and the early 2010s. He acknowledged and disavowed these writings in 2023. His recent work, including his 2023 book "The Origins of Woke" and his involvement in Project 2025, often critiques progressive ideologies and civil rights law, providing a specific lens through which he analyzes political trends.

He concludes that opposition to Indian immigration serves as a "clarifying issue" to understand the future direction of conservatism. Hanania suggests that while mainstream Republicans may not inherently dislike Indians, the discourse is increasingly structured by online extremists, leading to the laundering of anti-Indian sentiment into economic populism. This dynamic, he posits, indicates that the right is increasingly drawn to racist and conspiratorial thinking, which is then normalized within the broader Republican mainstream.