Far-right activists are seizing on a new example of the America they fear. It’s a booming, Texas city home to the Dallas Cowboys’ practice facility and a PGA golf resort.
The activists’ problem? The city’s population of Indian immigrants and people of Indian descent has grown dramatically in recent years as the town has massively expanded. Per the 2020 census, it was America’s fastest-growing city. The 2000 census put Frisco’s population at 33,000. By 2020, it was 200,000; the city’s mayor told TPM he estimates the current population to be around 250,000. With that growth, the demographics have also shifted. The 2020 census estimated that around a quarter of Frisco residents were Asian; city planners now estimate that Asians account for one-third of the population.
City officials boast about what they regard as the fruits of years of planning: multinational tech corporations with new offices in the city, endless soccer fields, a new library with a massive T. rex skeleton inside, a gleaming megamall, and, of course, the HQs of the Dallas Cowboys and PGA America. Vast, freshly built housing tracts coat the landscape. The few trees are thin and new.
But for a coterie of area activists and influencers, the influx of Indians — some on H-1B work visas, others citizens of Indian descent — is a real-life example of the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory. Under that idea, elites are replacing white Americans — sometimes referred to by right-wing activists as “Heritage Americans” — with nonwhite foreigners in a bid to gain political power. That narrative about Frisco has been magnified in recent days by national political figures. Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX), who represents a district near Frisco, cited the city’s demographic changes during a recent podcast appearance to demand an end to the H-1B worker visa program.
“We’ve got communities like Frisco that have been totally transformed, whether it’s Islamic immigration or immigration from anywhere else in Asia,” Gill said. “I don’t want to hear Muslim calls to prayer in my community. I do not want the caste system socially in the schools that my kids are going to because we’ve had so many people come to the United States who are not assimilating into American culture.”
Others, like former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, have trained a spotlight on Indians in the city in recent weeks, using a video by political activist Tyler Oliveira depicting Indians in the city to call for “a moratorium of at least 10 years on all immigration” and a “special deal” for American citizens.
The growing furor on the far right over the fact that a Texas city is home to a sizable Indian community is an example of how concerns about American identity animate an ongoing push to constrict legal immigration. It’s part of a broader split within the MAGA coalition between tech entrepreneurs like Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who have pushed for more high-skilled legal immigration, arguing that workers from India in particular boost the country’s tech businesses. They want more H-1B visas to that end. Nativists, embodied by Bannon and others, demand an end to the program, saying that it’s a means by which the supposed “Great Replacement” is taking place.
This story is also about social media: the actions of everyone involved, from Gill (who began his pre-Congress career as a digital media entrepreneur) to local activists on both sides of the debate, are shaped by the prospect that what they say or do may go viral.
This has led to complaints from city officials that Frisco has become a set backdrop for regional and national political influencers, who largely reside outside of Frisco even if they live in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. At one point, far-right activists shared a photo online of a Frisco scout troop at a city council meeting. The troop appeared to be composed of children of South Asian descent; activists cast it as an example of the Great Replacement.
“What it’s turned into, unfortunately, is a video recording studio for people who don’t live here and just want to use it for their own social media or public gain,” Mayor Jeff Cheney told TPM.
It’s prompted pain and confusion within the Indian community. People wonder where the hatred — now taking the form of social media posts and lengthy documentary-style videos — is originating. Others, mainly H-1B holders who spoke to TPM on condition of anonymity, fear that the attention may lead to their status being revoked. “It’s horrifying,” one H-1B holder told TPM. Some worry that the Trump administration will surge immigration enforcement at the community; others were more focused on the day-to-day impact: bullying at schools, quieter tensions.
“It feels uncomfortable now to go into places where there would be a diverse demographic because you know how people feel about you,” Neha Suratran, a 22-year-old Frisco resident, told TPM.
There’s a lot more, with names and pictures of the main offenders, so read the rest. I didn’t know about this, so it was eye-opening to me. Frisco is partly in Collin County and partly in Denton County, two places that Democrats have high hopes for this election. That has something to do with all this as well, but this story focuses more on the effect on the people living there. Check it out, and check out this followup article, which ties today’s fever to some virulent anti-immigrant outbreaks in 2006, in Pennsylvania and in Farmers Branch. Remember Farmers Branch? The Mayor of Farmers Branch and the ringleader of all that bullshit was Tim O’Hare, who is now the terrible Tarrant County Judge. Who, maybe, in this good year for Democrats, will meet his electoral demise in November. Whatever does happen, he has already left behind a long and disgraceful legacy of hatred and harm.
“…we’ve had so many people come to the United States who are not assimilating into American culture.”
“At one point, far-right activists shared a photo online of a Frisco scout troop at a city council meeting. The troop appeared to be composed of children of South Asian descent;”
Seems to me that joining a scout troop and participating in local government is as American as baseball and apple pie. Hypocrisy and bigotry are my default assumptions for right wingers these days.