In 2000, Frisco was a small, overwhelmingly white city of about 34,000 people. Since then, the city has gained about 200,000 people and is far more diverse.
Now, Indian immigrants who have called the suburb home for decades are facing a wave of hate that even became a central issue in the recent mayoral race. Freelance reporter Mark Dent chronicled the issue in his new article for Texas Monthly called, "Frisco Was A Welcoming Place For Indian Immigrants. Then Came The Influencers."
He joined NTX Now's Miranda Suarez and Ron Corning to talk through the dichotomy of opinions about Frisco's ethnic makeup — from nativists who see a city that's been taken over versus the tens of thousands of Indian-Americans who call it home.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity. To hear the full conversation, click the 'listen' button above.
What's driving the backlash
A key pillar at the Republic GOP convention, hosted in Texas, included halting H-1B visas as part of their platform. Dent explains this visa is a tool that many Indian-Americans have used around the country to find employment.
"The Republican Party was, in Texas, always talking about The Texas Miracle, jobs, the economy, etc.," Dent said. "That is what drew Indian-Americans and immigrants in general to Texas, particularly to Frisco."
But Dent explains that online agitators and anonymous social media accounts started rhetoric surround "the Indian takeover."
Online rhetoric spewing hate
One of these online influencers, former T-Mobile employee Mark Palaciano, started attracting a large digital following after attending many Frisco city council meetings to discuss H-1B visa workers. Dent explained his goal was to get a big following through these divisive, viral moments.
"He would talk about how T-Mobile had laid off many employees while still hiring new H-1B workers," Dent said. "He would also start to talk about how a lot of the city council had received donations from companies that had hired a lot of H-1B workers, and he started to develop a pretty big following online doing these kind of different talks at city council."
Dent said he's had talks with both native Texans and Indian-Americans where both agree that there are real cultural differences that should be discussed, but the rise in anti-Indian rhetoric has changed these conversations.
"The increase in this more anti-Indian rhetoric that we've seen on social media has taken those conversations to a whole other level and made it much harder to have real talks about the actual issues that have been," Dent said.
Frisco leadership
Indian-Americans moving to Frisco became one of the biggest topics in the recent mayoral race. Rod Vilhauer, a mayoral candidate who lost the bid, called South Asian immigrants "rats" and called Islam "a terrorist group."
Despite those comments, he still received 30% of the vote.
Mayor Mark Hill won the election, and Dent says some believe his platform of unity could be a turning point for this online hate, despite voter turnout not painting a full picture of the community.
"People I talked to said that this could potentially be a sign of what Frisco is going to advance going forward," Dent said. "That certainly will happen from government. And always keep in mind, of course, just like social media isn't real life, but sometimes local elections aren't real-life either because the turnout is so low."
Miranda Suarez and Ron Corning are the hosts of KERA's NTX Now. Got a tip? Email Miranda at msuarez@kera.org or Ron at rcorning@kera.org.
KERA News is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, consider making a tax-deductible gift today. Thank you.
