Anti-Sikh hate crimes in the U.S. reached a record 228 incidents in 2025, a sharp increase that came even as overall hate crimes declined 11% from the previous year, according to a preliminary analysis of FBI data.
A historic shift in targeting
The findings, first reported by Axios, showed that the anti-Sikh category, which was first introduced in 2015 with just six reported incidents, reached 228 last year. Meanwhile, anti-Latino hate crimes also hit a record 1,014 incidents, marking an 18% increase. The rise marked the first time in 34 years of FBI hate crime tracking that anti-Latino hate crimes ranked among the top three most targeted groups.
What this means
The record comes amid a broader pattern of rising hostility toward Asian communities. Slurs targeting Asian communities in extremist online spaces grew 40% from January 2023 to July 2025, with South Asians bearing the heaviest share, according to research by Stop AAPI Hate and Moonshot. Anti-South Asian slurs roughly doubled within that window, rising from about 23,000 in January 2023 to more than 46,000 by August 2024. That month, they represented 60% of all anti-Asian slurs logged.
Sikh Americans have also faced high-profile incidents of religious intolerance. Last June, U.S. Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.) drew bipartisan condemnation after criticizing the presence of a Sikh guest chaplain on the House floor, initially misidentifying him as Muslim before removing the post.
The big picture
Beyond the anti-Sikh and anti-Latino records, the year reportedly ranked fifth overall for hate crimes in 34 years of FBI-collected police data, with incidents in nearly every category far above 2015 levels. Anti-Latino cases rose 239%, while anti-trans hate crimes climbed 395% over the decade. Increases triggered by major events also tend to plateau at elevated levels rather than returning to previous lows.
This story is part of The Rebel Yellow Newsletter — a bold newsletter from the creators of NextShark, reclaiming our stories and celebrating Asian American voices.
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