Beheaded Indian-origin man was well-respected, his killer illegal alien: Trump

US President Donald Trump on Monday expressed outrage at the killing of Indian-American Chandra Nagamalliah in Texas last week. Nagamalliah was allegedly attacked and murdered by his employee Yordanis Cobos-Martinez after an argument between the two at a motel managed by the former. Trump was joined by politicians across the US political spectrum in condemning Nagamalliah’s murder.

Indian-origin motel manager Chandra Mouli Nagamallaiah. (PTI)

“I am aware of the terrible reports regarding the murder of Chandra Nagamallaiah, a well-respected person in Dallas, Texas, who was brutally beheaded, in front of his wife and son, by an ILLEGAL ALIEN from Cuba who should have never been in our Country,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

Trump promised that Martinez would be “prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law”. He also accused his predecessor Joe Biden of releasing Martinez back into society, despite the fact that he had been arrested for charges related to child sex abuse and grand theft auto. Martinez has been detained at the Dallas County Jail, according to the US Department of Homeland Security.

Republican politician Vivek Ramaswamy and Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna also condemned the killing on social media posts.

Nagamalliah’s death has sparked intense criticism of illegal immigration among Republicans who have called for tougher controls and enforcement of immigration rules. Trump, in particular, has linked higher levels of illegal immigration to rising crime in America. In his Truth Social post, Trump declared that “the time for being soft on these illegal immigration criminals is over under my watch”.

However, heated rhetoric on illegal immigration has also contributed to rising hate crimes against Indian-Americans. Stop AAPI Hate, a political action group, found a marked increase in violent and racist rhetoric against the Indian diaspora after Trump’s re-election in 2024.

“Since the election, anti-Asian slurs have dramatically increased by 66% and, among Asian American subgroups, South Asians communities have been most targeted, with 75% of slurs directed at them in December 2024 and January 2025,” the group said in a statement this year.

Their report found that heated political debates on illegal immigration led to the targeting of particular Asian communities online. This was seen clearly in December 2024 when a political battle over H1B visas triggered a major online backlash against Indian immigration to America.