Republican nominee for Texas Railroad Commissioner Bo French recently posted an image of students celebrating the Texas Longhorns’ dramatic comeback victory over Ohio State. Many of the students in the photograph appeared to be of South Asian descent. French framed the image as evidence of “how many Americans have been replaced by foreigners” and said the situation was “far worse than any of us could imagine.” His comments drew widespread criticism and accusations of racism and xenophobia.
The controversy has since escalated, after the U.S. Department of Education posted an image that appeared to show a football stadium with the caption, “MAKE FOOTBALL GREAT AGAIN.” The timing of the post led some critics to connect it to French’s remarks, prompting backlash from several prominent figures.
READ: Raja Krishnamoorthi condemns Bo French’s UT remarks (September 14, 2026)
Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, an Illinois Democrat, criticized the Education Department’s post. “The Department of Education seems to be playing dog whistles to Bo French’s tune just days after his xenophobic attack on South Asian students for cheering for their own college football team. South Asian Americans are as American as anyone,” Krishnamoorthi said on X.
“I am extremely discouraged by the amount of anti-Indian racism on this website and am thinking of taking a break from Twitter for a while,” said Soumitra Shukla, an economist at the Burning Glass Institute. “Given these incidents, it is hard not to believe that Indians living in America face serious threats, including to their basic dignity and humanity.”
“So it’s been a day. Has anybody yet explained why this message from the Department of Education (which, granted, shouldn’t exist) isn’t nakedly racist?” said Gregg Nunziata, who previously served as policy counsel to the Senate Republican Policy Committee and later as general counsel and domestic policy adviser to Sen. Marco Rubio.
Journalist Mehdi Hasan said, “We have a full on racist administration, basically endorsing the recent Bo French racist tweet in Texas, and it almost certainly won’t make a single headline or feature in a single Sunday show discussion tomorrow.”
Alex Nowrasteh, senior vice president for policy at the Cato Institute, said, “Is there an explanation for this other than they’re defending @bofrench’s anti-Indian tirade?”
READ: Indian American lawmakers urge diaspora to fight anti-India hate (July 26, 2026)
The controversy has also prompted reactions from students directly affected by the debate. Dhairya Gupta, a student at the University of Texas at Austin and a U.S. citizen, said he was confused by French’s post.
“I’m honestly not quite sure what he’s even getting at. You know, knowing that we are Americans. So, even if you were to say we need to prioritize Americans in any way — like, looking at that picture, you can’t tell if someone’s American or not,” Gupta told CNN.
Gupta noted that the sense of unity at an American football game is what matters most.
“At the end of the day, we’re all at the same school and we’re all Texans. We’re all Americans — watching the game and having fun,” Gupta added.