A new report from the Center for the Study of Organized Hate cites James Fishback’s opposition to the H-1B visa program in a section examining political rhetoric around South Asian immigration. The report says Fishback appeared on CNN to defend eliminating H-1B visas and replacing the program with a different merit-based immigration system.

The report, titled “The Rising Tide of Anti-South Asian Hate in the United States,” connects public fights over H-1B visas with spikes in hostile online speech targeting Indians and other South Asians. That is the organization’s analytical framing; opposition to a visa category is a policy position and does not by itself establish racial hostility.

CSOH says the monthly volume of posts it classified as anti-South Asian hate rose 240% between January 2024 and June 2026, from 12,904 to 43,843. Researchers said they used the United Nations definition of hate speech, tracked recurring slurs and narratives, and reviewed posts to exclude criticism that did not meet that threshold.

Fishback rejected the report’s characterization on X, writing that it was apparently being treated as a “hate crime” to oppose H-1B visas. The H-1B program allows U.S. employers to sponsor foreign workers for specialty occupations; the argument over its labor-market effects remains distinct from the report’s findings about explicitly hostile speech.