Fewer anti-Asian hate crimes in US, but immigration crackdowns raise concerns
Media Reporting
Aug. 20, 2026
By Han Li
Washington, D.C. — Advocates say new FBI figures likely represent only ‘tip of the iceberg’ and many suffering abuse decline to report it to authorities
Almost five years after the pandemic-era surge in anti-Asian hate in the US, new Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) data shows a downward trend nationally.
But advocates say concerns persist amid immigration crackdowns and heightened US-China geopolitical tension.
A survey from Stop AAPI Hate, a self-reporting platform formed during the pandemic, paints an even more worrying picture, with almost half of individuals indicating they have been targeted but many decline to report it to authorities for fear of repercussions.
According to FBI data released in mid-August, reported anti-Asian hate crime incidents fell 10 per cent nationwide, from 379 in 2024 to 339 in 2025.
While that is a positive sign, advocates caution that the figure remains far above pre-pandemic norms.
The annual average between 2013 and 2019 was 133 incidents, meaning anti-Asian hate crimes remain significantly elevated compared with the years before Covid-19.
“Even with the decline in 2025, reported incidents remain elevated more than two and a half-times the historical baseline,” said Sim J. Singh Attariwala, director of the anti-Hate programme at Asian-Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC).
Attariwala said the FBI figures likely represent only “the tip of the iceberg”, emphasising that they almost certainly undercount the true scope of hate crimes, especially given the current immigration climate.
Asian immigrants targeted in Trump’s latest immigration measures
Since US President Donald Trump returned to office, his administration has pursued a sweeping immigration crackdown, including tighter visa restrictions, moves to end birthright citizenship, and a surge in Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity.
“Many incidents are never reported to law enforcement,” he said, citing language barriers, distrust of government institutions, fear of retaliation, concerns about immigration consequences, and uncertainty about whether an incident qualifies as a hate crime.
The Stop AAPI Hate 2026 annual report, based on a survey of 1,378 Asian-American and Pacific Islander adults conducted in January 2026 with the University of Chicago, found that 49 per cent of them experienced a hate act that year, a level that has held roughly steady for three consecutive years.
The report says anti-immigrant policies under the Trump administration, broader political sentiment, and everyday acts of hate have begun to feed into one another, creating a “dangerous trifecta”.
Stephanie Chan, Stop AAPI Hate’s director of data and research, said in the past year, Asian communities have been hit really hard by changes in immigration policy.
“We’ve seen Trump institute a US$100,000 H-1B visa fee, and we know the majority of those who hold H-1B visas are Asian, and in particular, people from India and China,” Chan said.
AAJC also shared examples of incidents reported by community members that extended beyond the FBI’s hate crime statistics, including restaurants mocking Asian speech or using slant-eyed imagery in advertisements, slurs directed at neighbours, and harassment in stores.
But reporting to authorities remains low, according to the Stop AAPI Hate survey: only 22 per cent of those who experienced a hate act reported it to a formal authority, such as an employer, school, police department or civil rights agency, and just 33 per cent received any form of support.
Nationally, across all bias categories – including race, religion, sexual orientation, gender, and disability – reported hate crime incidents also slightly declined, from 11,679 in 2024 to 10,881 in 2025, according to the FBI. Even so, 2025 marks the fourth-highest annual total on record.
A sign of geopolitical tensions trickling down
As US-China rivalry intensifies, advocates say Asian-Americans are increasingly likely to be blamed or targeted – a dynamic they say predates the current moment but has taken on new urgency.
“History shows that geopolitical tensions often spill over onto Asian-American communities,” Attariwala said.
“We become concerned whenever debates about China, immigration, or national security lead people to view Asian-Americans through a lens of foreignness or suspicion.”
Chan said whatever is happening between the US and China does end up impacting not only the Chinese-American community, but also the broader Asian-American community.
“What we see in our hate act reports is that a lot of people are at the receiving end of anti-China sentiment,” Chan said.
“It also includes Asian-Americans more broadly who are perceived as Chinese.”
The FBI does not further break down anti-Asian hate crimes by ethnicity or national origin, making it difficult to determine whether incidents targeting specific groups, such as Chinese or Indian-Americans, are increasing.
However, the bureau does track religion-based categories separately, providing more detailed data on anti-Sikh, anti-Hindu and anti-Muslim bias.
AAJC pointed to growing concern over anti-South Asian hate and immigrant scapegoating, describing “a convergence of anti-immigrant, anti-South Asian, anti-Muslim, anti-Sikh and anti-Indian rhetoric”.
FBI data bear that out in part. Reported anti-Sikh hate crime incidents rose 24.6 per cent, from 142 in 2024 to 177 in 2025, and anti-Hindu incidents increased 12 per cent, from 25 to 28. Anti-Muslim hate crime incidents, by contrast, fell 10.1 per cent, from 228 to 205.
The Trump administration has touted the decline in hate crimes, and overall violent crime fell an estimated 9.3 per cent in 2025, with murder and non-negligent manslaughter down about 18.1 per cent, according to the FBI’s summary of crime data for the year.
FBI Director Kash Patel praised the trend and said data suggest crime is falling further in 2026.
“The good news is that preliminary trends for 2026 are showing additional decreases in crime,” Patel said.
