US teen held over Hindu temple attack plot: Is anti-Indian racism rising?

Key points

• Alexandros Paporakis, 19, was arrested in Palatine, Illinois, on suspicion of plotting an attack on a Hindu temple in Aurora.
• Prosecutors say he described himself as a white supremacist and wrote a manifesto calling Indian, Jewish and Black people 'subhumans'.
• A Carnegie survey found one in four Indian Americans had been verbally abused with slurs since early 2025.

A 19-year-old American who prosecutors say expressed white supremacist views has been arrested in Illinois on suspicion of plotting an attack on a Hindu place of worship. Police in Palatine, a Chicago suburb, say they thwarted a potential mass shooting and arrested Alexandros Paporakis, a Taco Bell cashier.

Investigators believe Paporakis planned to attack the largest Hindu temple in Aurora, about 40 miles (65km) southwest of Palatine. Police said the specific intended location has not been confirmed and remains under investigation. He faces felony charges of making a terrorist threat and unlawful possession of a weapon, and on Wednesday a judge ordered him held in jail before trial.

What prosecutors allege

Prosecutors say Paporakis told colleagues he 'couldn't wait' to kill Indian people and described himself to coworkers as a white supremacist. He allegedly sent a co-worker an eight-page document titled 'Why I fought: A.K.A. (Aurora Shooter's Manifesto),' which described Indian, Jewish and Black people as 'subhumans' and set out a plan to kill as many as possible.

According to prosecutors, he wrote that he had planned the attack for two years and researched his target using YouTube and Google Street View. A search of his home turned up an AR-style rifle without a serial number, loaded magazines, a gas canister labelled with a slur aimed at South Asians and items bearing Nazi symbolism. Prosecutors also said he had mental health issues and lived with his mother.

White supremacist extremism is clearly rising. Hostility towards Indians has particularly increased among the MAGA right in President Trump's second term.

— Devesh Kapur, professor of South Asian studies at Johns Hopkins University

Hate incidents and survey data

The FBI does not count crimes against Indian Americans as a specific category; the closest measures are crimes against Hindus and Sikhs. Police reported 234 anti-Sikh offences to the FBI in the 12 months to October, up from 183 in the previous 12 months, a rise of about 28 percent. Anti-Hindu offences have remained lower and broadly steady, at 63 over the past two years.

A Carnegie Endowment survey of 1,000 Indian Americans, conducted by YouGov between November 2025 and January 2026, found that one in four had been verbally abused with slurs since the start of 2025. Nine percent said they had been physically threatened and 4 percent physically assaulted. Almost one in five said they had avoided wearing Indian dress in public. The survey also found no significant change in the number of people reporting personal discrimination since 2020.