The wealthy suburbs of northern Dallas, Texas, have become an unlikely backdrop for growing racial tension amid a rapid rise in immigration from South Asia.
Cities such as Frisco, Plano and Irving are seeing huge population growth due to a booming job market in the Dallas-Fort Worth area known as ‘Silicon Prairie,’ where there has been a huge influx of tech, finance and corporate giants in recent years.
The population spikes are being fueled by a dramatic rise in high-paid foreign workers from India, many arriving on H-1B visas.
Frisco – widely regarded as the most coveted suburb in the area – has seen the most dramatic demographic shift. Median house prices are just over the $700,000 mark, which is around double the nationwide average.
Asian residents now make up roughly a third (33 percent) of the population, with Indians representing a major share. That’s up from around three percent in 2000 and ten percent in 2010.
Anger over the changing demographics has transformed otherwise routine city council meetings in Frisco into cultural battlegrounds in recent weeks.
Tensions have boiled over as residents angrily air grievances over housing competition, pressure on schools and anxiety about communities changing at breakneck speed.
In a four-hour tongue lashing that went until one o’clock in the morning, hundreds of residents who spoke at this week’s Frisco’s city council meeting pleaded with elected officials – some going as far as to threaten them – to stop the construction of two new Indian religious temples.
‘What about our culture as Texans? What about our culture as Friscoans?’ resident Michael Wu said at Tuesday’s meeting. ‘Asking us as Texans to accept another temple, especially when a group has not assimilated to us, is a bridge too far. This is why we are having such a strong reaction.’
Cities such as Frisco, Plano and Irving are seeing huge population growth due to a booming jobs market in the Dallas-Fort Worth area known as ‘Silicone Prairie’
Hundreds of Hindus visit the Karya Siddhi Hanuman Temple in Frisco, Texas on Memorial Day
The massive place of worship can hold thousands of attendees, leaving neighbors in the residential areas immediately next to it to complain about the traffic in their once quiet streets
Families told the Daily Mail that in recent years, there have been growing examples of young, single Indian bachelors packing into large suburban homes – sometimes living eight to a house – altering the character of quiet residential streets.
‘We’ve seen this several times where it’s a house full of six, seven, eight of them,’ one 20-year homeowner in Plano said, ‘They’re usually college-age (adults) and they don’t take care of the house.
‘I’ve had to call neighborhood services to address several issues on the outside of the home. I can’t imagine what it looks like on the inside.’
He insisted his unease has less to do with nationality and more to do with the sudden surge of young men in neighborhoods designed for families with children.
‘It’s not ideal for any reason, particularly if you have young kids living in your home,’ he added.
‘You really want nuclear families, homeowners that have been there for a long time who will take pride into their communities, and we’re losing that.’
Other Plano residents expressed anxiety about more traditionally American businesses being replaced by Asian grocers, restaurants, stores and cultural centers.
One Indian supermarket chain, Patel Brothers, has popped up in at least one strip mall in Plano and one in Frisco.
In Frisco, the Indian population has surged from 3 percent in 2000 to 33 percent today
Busloads of Indian children were dropped off at an apartment complex in Plano, Texas in recent days
In Frisco, locals highlighted that a popular Tex-Mex restaurant had recently closed down has now been replaced by a Desi vegetarian eatery.
Other complaints center around religious temples, such as the Karya Siddhi Hanuman Temple in Frisco, a massive temple that draws thousands daily and even more during religious holidays like Diwali.
Neighbors have complained about traffic congestion during major events and the impact of large-scale celebrations on otherwise quiet residential streets.
Two additional temples – one Hindu and the other Jain – are under construction. While many non-Indian Frisco taxpayers oppose them, Frisco’s mayor has publicly stated that permits from the houses of worship were approved years ago, and the city council has no legal reason to stop their building from moving ahead.
Many long-time residents claim their complaints about their new Indian neighbors are purely pragmatic, however, the backlash against the Indians has undeniably racist and violent undertones.
The tensions are being stoked by social media, with videos showing customers of Indian descent packed into Costco on weekends going viral, calling it ‘Mumbai, Texas.’
A video shared on X by @info_maiden shows a procession of Indians in the streets of Aubrey, Texas, just north of Dallas
North Texas suburbs like Aubrey, Frisco, Plano and McKinney have seen an explosion of Indian arrivals, many who arrived in the US legally with H-1B visas sponsored by American companies
The vitriol has even drawn the likes of January 6 rioter Jake Lang from his home state of Florida to speak at Frisco’s city council.
Indicted on 11 counts of assaulting police officer at the US capitol in 2020 before he was pardoned by President Donald Trump, Lang threatened local elected leaders for allowing a ‘Indian invasion.’
‘You all deserve to be strung,’ Lang shouted at Frisco’s city council Tuesday.
He also urged violence against Indian temples and mosques as local police officers escorted him out of the building.
The Indian wave has become the central issue in Frisco’s mayoral race, as the current leader – Jeff Cheney – has termed out of office.
The mayor’s race is non-partisan, meaning candidates don’t usually declare a party affiliation, however, candidate Rod Vilhauer hasn’t been shy about where he stands on the Indian newcomers.
‘This feels like an invasion, not assimilation,’ during a podcast appearance last month.
He also drew controversy for remarks in which he admitted he had not previously understood the difference between Muslims and Indians and for calling immigrants ‘rats,’ a comment he later apologized for.
‘People are coming in and out of here like rats…that’s not the right word.’
A shopping center in Plano, Texas is made up entirely of Indian businesses
Businesses like India Bazaar and Desi District cater to the 32,000 Indians living in the city and the 39,000 South Asians living in neighboring Frisco, Texas
His rival, Mark Hill, an attorney and school board member, has instead called for unity, warning: ‘If we stop becoming a welcoming community, that’s when this city starts to really struggle,’ in an interview with local station WFAA.
Voters will make their selection during a June 13 special election.
Across North Texas, the rise in Indian immigration has been driven by the region’s booming job market and the continued use of the H-1B visa system, designed for workers in ‘specialty occupations’ requiring a bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.
In fiscal 2024, 71 percent of H-1B visas issued nationwide went to Indian applicants, according to federal data.
While intended to fill genuine skills gaps, the program has also become politically contentious. Critics say H-1B workers have taken jobs away from deserving Americans.
Texas now ranks among the top states in the country for H-1B approvals, second only to California.
One white Texan told the Daily Mail he works at a Fortune 500 company in Plano and says 80 percent of his office colleagues are Indian, doing the kind of jobs anyone with an IT background could do.
‘I’m essentially a minority almost everywhere I go in Collin County,’ he huffed.
‘They’re taking jobs that could otherwise go to Americans and companies are outsourcing and doing it on purpose.’
At the same time, the population of South Asian students in schools has also raised eyebrows.
In Frisco Independent School District, the number of Asian students rose from around 18 percent to 44 percent while the percentage of white students declined, Texas Education Agency data shows.
The high concentration of Indian students, some US citizens and others the children of visa-holders, is evident at school bus pick-ups and drop-offs.
It’s very common to see large groups of Indian parents sending off their kids or welcoming them back after a day of studies in Frisco and Plano apartment complexes.
Hundreds of Indians gather in The Colony, near Frisco, Texas for last year’s Great Indian Spring Festival
Some residents of a Plano neighborhood are upset about the many single Indian men who live in this house on a street made up mostly of married couples with kids
The Daily Mail recently witnessed as four busloads of kids were dropped off at the apartments in Plano. Between all four buses with at least 200 kids, all but one was Indian.
Naimisha Alluri, a new arrival from India, hit back at claims Indians were being hired on the cheap.
‘We’re not taking jobs, it’s based on the talent.’
‘It comes because of the hard work and talent. As you know, most of the immigrants who come here mostly would be engineers working in IT field and the doctors who are coming here. Those are high paid jobs. It’s because of the hard work.’
Despite social media highlighting the extremes, many Indians say Texans have embraced them.
Alluri moved to the Dallas area about a year ago when her fiancé took a job with a finance company.
‘It feels like home,’ she explained of finding so many other Indians to befriend.
She added she has not personally experienced any kind of racism or hostility.
