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Stopped despite O-1 visa: Indian-origin CEO flags xenophobia

Lakhiani, a Malaysian-born entrepreneur of Indian origin, alleged in an Instagram post that the episode reflects rising xenophobia and fear-based political rhetoric.

Vishen Lakhiani / Wikipedia

US-based company Mindvalley’s CEO Vishen Lakhiani said he was stopped and questioned by FBI agents on arrival in Miami despite holding an O-1 visa.

Lakhiani, a Malaysian-born entrepreneur of Indian origin, alleged in an Instagram post that the episode reflects rising xenophobia and fear-based political rhetoric in the United States.

Also Read: Indian student numbers in U.S. surge by 10 percent this year: Report

He said he was stopped as soon as he got off the plane and questioned by two FBI agents about his recent trips to Dubai, Istanbul, and Brazil as well as asked for access to his social media accounts, including his WhatsApp number.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Vishen (@vishen)

He described the officers as “super nice” and “doing their job,” but called the experience “scary.”

Lakhiani criticized what he described as the normalisation of anti-immigrant rhetoric in the US, writing that “the fearmongering, the xenophobia, the blaming of immigrants by politicians with no ideas on how to truly make a country great” was creating a “closed and narrow-minded” climate.

He linked the wider atmosphere to declining visitor interest, saying tourism is “down 15 percent” and applications from foreign students are “down close to 20 percent.”

His comments sparked extensive discussion online. One user wrote, “That’s exactly why I left, even though I also had a talent visa… it gave me anxiety.”

Another said they had decided not to visit the US “for the next few years because racial profiling is real.” A third user said immigration officers “should reflect on their actions.”

The incident has added to debate around airport screening, immigration rules and the treatment of foreign professionals entering the United States.

Lakhiani is the founder and CEO of Mindvalley, a US-based education and human-skills company that produces online training programmes in leadership, productivity and wellbeing. He is also the author of The Code of the Extraordinary Mind and The Buddha and the Badass.

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