May 1, 2026
Stop AAPI Hate finds alarmingly high levels of anti-AA/PI hate for third consecutive year, highlighting ongoing toll of xenophobic rhetoric, policies central to Trump admin’s agenda
53% of Asian and Pacific Islander adults in the U.S. feel negative impacts of immigration policy changes, anti-immigrant sentiment under Trump administration
NATIONWIDE — Today, Stop AAPI Hate released its third annual State of Hate report, “Closing Doors, Widening Harm: Persistent Hate Against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in an Anti-Immigrant Climate”, finding that Asian American and Pacific Islander (AA/PI) communities in the U.S. continued to experience widespread racism and discrimination in 2025, more than five years since the surge in anti-Asian hate during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The report examines the state of anti-AA/PI hate nationwide, the impact on survivors of hate acts, and how immigration policy changes under the Trump administration have affected both Asian and Pacific Islander U.S. citizens and non-citizens. Findings are based on a Stop AAPI Hate nationally-representative survey conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago.
Key findings include:
- A staggering half (49%) of AA/PI adults in the U.S. reported experiencing a hate act in 2025 due to their race, ethnicity, or nationality.
- This is the third consecutive year Stop AAPI Hate’s annual State of Hate survey has found that about half of AA/PI adults have recently experienced a hate act: 53% in 2024 and 49% in 2023 – both statistically similar to 49% in 2025. Harassment and institutional discrimination were the most common forms of hate for all three years.
- The prevalence of hate targeting Pacific Islander adults rose from 47% in 2024 to 57% in 2025 – a statistically significant increase.
- In addition, around half (53%) of AA/PI adults indicated that they or an AA/PI individual they personally know (e.g., friend, family member) were negatively impacted by changes in immigration policies or anti-immigrant sentiment in 2025 under the Trump administration.
- This finding applies to both Asian and Pacific Islander U.S. citizens and non-citizens as well as those born inside and outside of the U.S.
- The top three impacts on AA/PI adults include: 36% said either they or another AA/PI person they know had their immigration or citizenship status questioned or revoked, or feared it might be; 30% experienced or feared being arrested, detained, or deported; and 28% considered leaving the U.S. or prepared to do so.
- Hate significantly harmed AA/PI adults’ mental health, with those who experienced hate in 2025 reporting worse mental health than those who did not. Among those who experienced hate, nearly three-quarters (73%) reported feeling stressed, and one in four reported symptoms of moderate to severe depression or anxiety – significantly higher than among those who did not experience hate.
“Our new research shows that Asian American and Pacific Islander communities in the U.S. have continued to face alarmingly high levels of racism and discrimination for three consecutive years, fueled and normalized by relentless anti-Asian rhetoric and policies from political figures – especially Donald Trump and his allies,” said Cynthia Choi, Co-Founder of Stop AAPI Hate and Co-Executive Director of Chinese for Affirmative Action. “While our survey has tracked this disturbing trend since 2023, our reporting center data, our previous research, and other sources show the surge began in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic – and anti-AA/PI hate has remained elevated since then because xenophobic, politically motivated attacks against our communities have continued year after year.”
In addition to Trump’s anti-Asian political rhetoric during the pandemic, Choi points to other factors that have sustained high levels of anti-AA/PI hate since 2020, including: political leaders stoking anti-Indian and anti-Chinese sentiment, Trump’s 2024 re-election campaign amplifying xenophobic rhetoric, and his current administration unleashing a torrent of anti-immigrant policies and narratives that further stoke anti-AA/PI hostility.
The report also includes victims’ first-hand accounts of hate acts, many of which illustrate how xenophobia fueled by Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda is a driving factor of anti-AA/PI hate acts:
“[At a fast food restaurant], a lady came up right behind us mumbling, ‘murderers.’ We asked her if she was talking to us, to which her response was to yell at us, … ‘you’re murderers, you’re dirty murderers and rapists. I’m going to call ICE on your dirty -sses so you get deported back to India’’ (we are all U.S. citizens). … She … threw food at our feet as she walked out.” —I ndian woman in Georgia
“I made a random comment on a [social media] post [related to the release of dolphins to the wild]. … Some guy posted that I should be locked up in concrete and do tricks. … This person then proceeded to post that they are reporting me to ICE (I’m a citizen), and I should get my papers ready. Is this 1930s Germany? I fear for my safety with the current ICE raids.” — Multiracial Pacific Islander man
“I was waiting in line at [a fast food restaurant]. A woman started screaming at me, got inches from my face twice, andsaid she can’t wait until Trump deports me like he promised. She physically shoved me, so I left [the restaurant].” — Korean woman in California
“Asian and Pacific Islander people have long endured the ‘trifecta of violence’, whereby harmful ideologies like racism and xenophobia produce discriminatory policies – with those policies in turn emboldening both state actors and everyday individuals to commit acts of violence against those targeted by those ideologies,” said Stephanie Chan, Director of Data and Research at Stop AAPI Hate. “The trifecta of violence against AA/PI people has been particularly evident from the COVID-19 pandemic through today, as there has been an unrelenting stream of racist political rhetoric and xenophobic policies that has created an environment where acts of hate against our communities become more likely.”
Read the full report here to see all survey results, including: the most common forms of anti-AA/PI hate; where acts of hate take place; breakdowns by regional/ethnic subgroups, age, gender, and income; additional impacts of hate beyond mental health; policy recommendations; and more.
