Florida councilman Chandler Langevin mocks Raja Krishnamoorthi’s Indian origin.
Florida councilman Chandler Langevin who called for a mass deportation of Indians from the US, mocked Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi after the Indian-origin Congressman denounced Langevin’s hate speech. Calling Krishnamoorthi a ‘foreign occupier’, Langevin said Krishnamoorthi’s name is unpronounceable and his country of origin is Tatooine, a Star Wars location.
Who is Chandler Langevin? Why is he in the news?
Chandler Langevin is a city councilmember in Florida who has been making a series of derogatory comments against Indians and callin for their mass deportation. He said Indians are draining America and they only want to benefit their home country. Indian-American groups of Palm Bay Council protested his remarks and called for his ouster from the city council. The city council took up the issue and a vote was held in which it was passed 3-2 that Langevin would be censured. “We’re all overwhelmed by everything. This nation was founded on immigrants … We are all part of the very fabric of the flag, our banner, the United States of America,” Mayor Rob Medina, who also serves on the council, said. Hindus for Human Rights, a national advocacy organization, released a letter calling the remarks “overtly bigoted, dehumanizing, and dangerous” and urged the Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, to suspend Langevin from his role.Langevin, however, refused to apologize for his statements and doubled down on what he said. He said he is not the first Republican to make a mean tweet and he meant to start a discourse on immigration. He also said that his target was not the Indian-Americans settled in the country and contibuting to the country but the migrants.
‘It’s unacceptable and dangerous’
Democratic leader and US representative for Illinois’s 8th congressional district Raja Krishnamoorthi issued a statement condemning the recent remarks by Langevin. “It’s unacceptable—and dangerous—that in 2025 we’re hearing elected officials call for the mass removal of Indian Americans. This rhetoric echoes the cruelty of Donald Trump’s mass ICE raids and fuels a climate of fear that harms families across our nation. When hate speech is normalized and communities are scapegoated, our democracy is weakened,” Krishnamoorthi said. Langevin reacted to Krishnamoorthi’s statement by reporting him to the DHS as a ‘foreign occupier’ whose name is unpronounceable.