Representative image for H-1B visa.
Credit: iStock Photo
With the United States President Donald Trump announcing a fee for people with the H-1B visa, a hefty amount of $100,000, Indians carrying the visa hurried to return to US.
As the Indian landscape scrambled in panic, far-right supporters in US initiated 'Operation Clog the Toilet' in a means to hinder with airline system to hinder Indians from travelling.
The far-right groups coordinated their plans through online forums and platforms like 4chan and Telegram, with the purpose to block seats on India-US flights. They temporarily blocked seats on busy routes between the two countries, and would repeat the process once the hold time-outs expired. Trolls held over 100 seats at a time, the cities they focused on were flights to Newark, Dallas, and New York.
Many websites reportedly faced site crashes. As the trolls blocked seats, it would accompany racist and derogatory terms, and calls for "keeping Indians in India."
Genuine passengers shared their ordeals of repeated booking failures, many paying multiple times the original fares to return to US. As blocking seats temporarily increased ticket prices, travellers found the process tedious and tiring.
In instances through the campaign, various users spread hate speech through 4chan, an anonymous imageboard platform, with extremist content filling post boards. While many posted updates on the campaign, the users on 4chan also wrote posts promoted violence towards the Indian community.
As the campaign spread tensions across travellers, the US clarified the fee will be applicable only for new applicants. The visa's fee would be a one-time charge. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt clarified on X, "H-1B visa holders can leave and re-enter the country to the same extent as they normally would; whatever ability they have to do that is not impacted by yesterday’s proclamation," referring to Trump's announcement.
The executive order is awaited for the H-1B visa applicants, which is said to come into effect from the next lottery cycle.