’Your grandfather came from India’: Nikki Haley’s son faces fire for calls to end mass immigration

A heated exchange broke out on social media between Nalin Haley, son of Republican leader Nikki Haley, and British-American journalist Mehdi Hasan over US immigration policy. Nalin argued for ending mass immigration to the United States, while Hasan reminded him that his grandfather had migrated to the country from India in 1969.

In a post on X on Thursday, Nalin called for halting mass immigration, citing overcrowding, economic instability, and the growing impact of artificial intelligence on the labour market. He also argued that states should have the authority to deny H-1B visas to foreign workers and urged tighter restrictions following a recent Trump administration policy introducing a steep $100,000 fee for new H-1B applications.

“I don’t care where you are from. Even if it’s Canada, we have to stop mass migration. We have too many people. It’s irresponsible to let in immigrants when companies already aren’t hiring, AI is replacing many jobs, and the economy is fragile. The last thing we need is foreigners taking away jobs Americans can do,” wrote the 24-year-old, who is the son of former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley.

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I don’t care where you’re from. Even if it’s Canada, we have to stop mass migration.
1. We have too many people
2. It’s irresponsible to let in immigrants when companies already aren’t hiring, AI is replacing many jobs, and the economy is fragile. The last thing we need is… https://t.co/Y42ayBz921

— Nalin Haley (@Nalin_Haley) October 22, 2025

Mehdi Hasan, founder of the media company Zeteo, responded by highlighting Nalin’s own family history. He noted that Nalin’s grandfather, Ajit Singh Randhawa, immigrated to the United States from India in 1969, a time also marked by anti-immigrant sentiment and restrictive quotas.

Nalin’s grandfather, Ajit Singh Randhawa, the late father of Nikki Haley, a Sikh immigrant from India, had to confront similar bogus anti-immigrant arguments from the right when he moved to the US for work in 1969. https://t.co/7AICmju1FF

— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) October 22, 2025

Randhawa, originally from Punjab, moved to the US more than 55 years ago and went on to have a notable academic career. He earned a master’s degree in biology and later pursued a PhD at the University of British Columbia in Canada before joining Voorhees College in Bamberg, South Carolina, as a faculty member in 1969. He passed away in June last year.

Following Hasan’s comment, Nalin fired back, rejecting the comparison and escalating the dispute by suggesting that the journalist “should be denaturalised if he hates this country so much.”