Sikhs and Hindus in the United States are facing increased hate crime incidents by 24.6 per cent and 12 per cent, respectively, according to newly released FBI data for 2025. While there was an overall decrease of 7 per cent in hate crimes nationwide, the data analysed by civil rights organisation Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC) and Sikh advocacy group Sikh Coalition shows a sharp rise in bias incidents targeting South Asian religious communities.
The anti-Sikh hate crime incidents increased by 24.6 per cent from 142 in 2024 to 177 in 2025, while the anti-Hindu hate crime incidents also increased by 12 per cent from 25 in 2024 to 28 in 2025. Anti-Buddhist hate crime incidents also rose by 7.7 per cent from 26 in 2024 to 28 in 2025.
The total number of hate crimes published by the FBI on August 14 for 2025 shows a 7 per cent decrease, from 11,404 incidents reported in 2024 to 10,606 in 2025. However, the FBI’s statistics show that anti-Asian hate crime incidents remain substantially elevated compared to pre-pandemic level averages.
The study by AAJC stated that while this data continues to document serious threats facing Asian American communities, the statistics likely represent only a fraction of the bias incidents, harassment, intimidation, and violence experienced across the country. “Hate crime data has long suffered from significant underreporting by both victims and law enforcement agencies. The risk of statistical underreporting is heightened by the rise of anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies that increasingly rely on and reinforce anti-Asian, anti-South Asian, anti-Muslim, and anti-Sikh narratives,” it read.
The study noted that increased surveillance and information-sharing practices and highly publicised extrajudicial enforcement operations have created fear and uncertainty in many communities, regardless of citizenship status. Sim J. Singh Attariwala, Director of the Anti-Hate Program at Asian Americans Advancing Justice, said that the real risk is not that hate goes unaddressed, but that it becomes invisible when the federal government dismantles hate-crime prevention initiatives, cuts grants, weakens civil rights enforcement, and erodes trust among immigrant communities.
It noted that one of the most concerning trends of 2025 was the convergence of anti-immigrant, anti-South Asian, anti-Muslim, anti-Sikh, and anti-Indian rhetoric, evident from attempts to scapegoat immigrant communities for broader social and economic concerns, including attempts to portray Sikh and Punjabi truck drivers as public safety threats.
While Sikh advocacy group Sikh Coalition stated that in its analysis of the data, anti-Sikh hate crimes peaked in September 2025 with 26 incidents, nearly one per day on average, which was the month following the high-profile roadway accident involving truck driver Harjinder Singh in Florida.
Mannirmal Kaur, Sikh Coalition Senior Federal Policy Manager, says, “Any increase in hate crimes is, of course, discouraging. But minority and immigrant populations have faced an even more openly hostile political and social climate since this data was collected. Sikhs specifically have been one of many groups in the spotlight, from discrimination against and targeting of Sikh truck drivers to fear-mongering around Sikh articles of faith from the highest levels of our government.”
FBI data also indicated that anti-Jewish hate crimes remained the majority of religion-based hate crimes, accounting for 63 per cent of the 2,408 religion-motivated hate crime incidents reported in 2025. Anti-Muslim hate crimes recorded 233 incidents, representing about 9 per cent of religiously motivated hate crimes.
For Sikhs and Hindus in the US, the rising hate crime numbers are a stark reminder that even as overall hate crimes decline, the convergence of anti-immigrant rhetoric and targeted scapegoating continues to put South Asian communities at heightened risk, demanding stronger protection and accountability.
