FOR INDIANS, TRUMP’S AMERICA IS A LAND OF LOST OPPORTUNITY

[This year, undergraduate applications from India fell at 26 percent of United States educational institutions, and 15 percent of graduate programs, according to a survey of 250 American universities by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers.]

By Geeta Anand

Employees at Amrut Software in Mumbai. President Trump ordered a review of

the issuing of H1-B visas, the more than 85,000 work visas given out a

year, mostly to Indians who work in information technology jobs

in the United States. Credit Atul Loke for The New York Times

MUMBAI — Generations of Indians have admired the United States for almost everything. But many are infuriated and unnerved by what they see as a wave of racist violence under President Trump, souring America’s allure.

The reaction is not just anger and anxiety. Now, young Indians who have aspired to study, live and work in the United States are looking elsewhere.

“We don’t know what might happen to us while walking on the street there,” said Kanika Arora, a 20-year-old student in Mumbai who is reconsidering her plan to study in the United States. “They might just think that we’re terrorists.”

Recent attacks on people of Indian descent in the United States are explosive news in India. A country once viewed as the Promised Land now seems for many to be dangerously inhospitable.

Further alienating Indians, especially among its highly educated class, is the Trump administration’s reassessment of H1-B visas given mostly for information technology jobs. More than 85,000 are granted a year, the majority to Indians.

“America was the land of great opportunity,” said Sanket Bafna, 21, as he emerged one afternoon last week from an exam at K.C. College, where he’s studying financial management. “It’s not the same land.”

This year, undergraduate applications from India fell at 26 percent of United States educational institutions, and 15 percent of graduate programs, according to a survey of 250 American universities by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers.

The number of applications for H1-B visas also fell to 199,000, a nearly 20 percent decline, according to data kept by United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Like many others, Indians were offended by Mr. Trump’s promises to block the Mexico border with a wall and bar people from six predominantly Muslim countries. Some took solace that India was not targeted.

But they soon saw that anti-immigrant rage in America did not discriminate.

In February, two Indian immigrants were shot, one fatally, at a bar in Kansas by a gunman who witnesses said had shouted ethnic slurs and told them they did not belong in the United States.

Since then, several more attacks on Indian immigrants have been closely covered by the Indian news media. While the authorities have not linked all to anti-immigrant bigotry, the belief that Indians are under attack in America seems cemented in the minds of many.

About 3.2 million people of Indian descent live in the United States, slightly more than 1 percent of the population, a Pew Research Center report found.

Most hold green cards and H1-B visas, and are far more affluent and educated than the average American.

Indian-Americans play an outsize role in Silicon Valley, where some, including Google Inc.’s chief executive, Sunder Pichai, have founded or run some of the most successful companies.

But success stories like Mr. Pichai’s no longer inspire the jealousy they once did in India.

Ms. Arora, leaving H.R. College of Commerce and Economics, where she had finished an exam, said her parents had reservations about sending her brother to the United States, where he had been planning to enroll in college this year.

Ms. Arora said she, like her brother, “did aspire to work and study in America, but I’m reconsidering.”

The biggest reason, she said, was the violence directed against Indians.

“Every day, there’s a new headline about an Indian or Asian getting killed,” she said.

Now, she said, she and others in India were looking more favorably on Europe for study and work, despite the upheaval over Britain’s planned exit from the European Union. “Comparatively, it’s considered safer,” she said.

In the end, Mr. Trump’s policies may benefit their home country by cutting off the brain drain, Ms. Arora and other Indians said. “All the intelligent people are coming back and can work here,” she added.

As students of Mumbai’s colleges, after finishing their exams, reviewed dog-eared question papers with friends on the sidewalk, they returned again and again to astonishment that someone like Mr. Trump could be elected.

“I was like, ‘Wow, how did you elect somebody like him,’” said Shantanu Sivan, 20, who studies mass media at Wilson College. “I think I lost hope in the people of America.”

Ananya Gupta, 21, who studies financial management at K.C. College, laced his disappointment with contempt.

“That just shows where they stand intellectually, electing a person of Trump’s nature as a president,” he said.

Standing across the street from his college, among other students at a beverage stand, Mr. Gupta replied “Who doesn’t?” when asked if he had an opinion on America under Mr. Trump.

“Of course as a child, I used to dream about going to America, the land of opportunity. But today, he said, “I wouldn’t want to go there.”

Not everyone is so negative about America under Mr. Trump. Devanshu Jain, 21, said he still planned to study and work there.

“There’s racism in India, too,” he said. “Who doesn’t want to work for Goldman Sachs in New York City, right?”

But he said some friends were “so shaken up about what’s happening” that they have transferred from American universities to Canadian institutions in recent months.

At Mumbai’s Todi Mills, an old mill area converted in recent years into restaurants, bars and office space for young entrepreneurs, Mr. Trump’s America is also viewed with trepidation.

“People are really thinking America’s going downhill,” said Shikha Mittal, 33, founder of Be.artsy, a nine-person firm specializing in using art for marketing.

“It’s hard to take him seriously because the perception is so nonserious about him, that he’s not fit for the role he’s got,” Ms. Mittal said. “It’s affected how people think about America. What made people vote for him? What sort of people have voted for him?”

Around the corner, Abhishek Singh, 23, sat with a friend at a patio table of a pub, worrying about the effect on Mr. Trump on the world.

“The U.S. has been such a good country with such good policies,” said Mr. Singh, a brewer. “And this guy comes to power, and you don’t know what he might actually do.”

Mr. Singh, who dreams about owning a pub some day, said he was scared by Mr. Trump’s recent bombings in Syria and Afghanistan.

“He might start World War III,” Mr. Singh said. “He might kill us all.”

Still, some Indians seem willing to overlook what they find offensive about Mr. Trump if he is tough on Pakistan.

India has fought three wars with Pakistan, and many Indians think it is behind terrorist attacks in the country. Mr. Trump’s tough talk on terrorism has given these Indians hope.

“On one side, he’s absolutely a mad guy,” said Abhay Bhalerao, 50, the founder and managing director of a software company that provides price comparison data.

“But on other side, he seems to understand that Pakistan is the bad guy.”

Ayesha Venkataraman contributed reporting.

@ The New York Times