Washington, September 3, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
A coalition of South Asian American lawmakers and elected officials has called for stronger measures to address rising hate, harassment and violence targeting the community in the United States.
The call came during a national roundtable led by Indian American Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, which brought together federal, state and local representatives to discuss discrimination faced by South Asian Americans and ways to strengthen hate-crime prevention, reporting and responses.
US Representatives Pramila Jayapal, Ami Bera, Suhas Subramanyam and Shri Thanedar joined Krishnamoorthi at the meeting, along with elected officials from North Carolina, New Jersey, Virginia, California, Michigan, Texas and Pennsylvania.
Representatives from Indian American Impact and Stop AAPI Hate also participated. Indian American Impact Executive Director Chintan Patel and Stop AAPI Hate co-founder Manju Kulkarni were among those attending.
Krishnamoorthi said the roundtable was aimed at confronting the rise in hate and violence experienced by South Asian communities and identifying practical steps to address it.
He said protecting South Asian Americans was also about ensuring that no person in the US feels they do not belong because of their birthplace, religion or name.
Krishnamoorthi has been pushing for broader federal scrutiny of the causes of hate crimes and weaknesses in existing reporting mechanisms. In May, he reintroduced the bipartisan Hate Crimes Commission Act with Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and House co-leads Grace Meng and Nydia Velázquez.
The proposed legislation would establish a bipartisan US Commission on Hate Crimes to examine factors contributing to such crimes, including the role of social media and technology, barriers to accurate reporting and strategies for prevention. It would also require the Government Accountability Office to audit federal hate-crime data collection systems.
According to federal data cited when the legislation was reintroduced, more than 11,000 single-bias hate-crime incidents involving nearly 14,000 victims were reported to the FBI in 2024. The incidents involved alleged bias based on race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity and disability.
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