Anti-Latino hate crimes reached a record high in 2025

Carlos De Loera, Los Angeles Times on Apr 16, 2026

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Last year was a record year for hate crimes directed at Latinos in the U.S., FBI data show.

The findings — which come from preliminary FBI data that were first reviewed by Axios and later reviewed by the Los Angeles Times — showed that the number of 2025 incidents the agency labeled as anti-Latino hate crimes nationwide increased 18%, from 858 incidents in 2024 to 1,014 in 2025.

In California alone, hate crime incidents against Latinos jumped 14.8% from 209 in 2024 to 240 in 2025, according to FBI data.

This marked an all-time high for the number of such incidents against Latinos since the FBI first started officially tracking hate crimes in 1991 after the passing of the Hate Crime Statistics Act by President George H.W. Bush in 1990.

The 2025 FBI data are still considered preliminary as the agency has yet to release its annual “Reported Crimes in the Nation” report for 2025.

The increase came as the overall number of hate crime incidents when accounting for all groups decreased by 11% nationally from 2024 to 2025.

Over the last decade the number of anti-Latino hate-crime incidents nationwide has gone up every year but one (2024), leading to a 238% increase in that time frame. A double-digit percentage increase in anti-Latino incidents was observed each year from 2015 to 2025, except in 2024 when the number went down 2.3% and in 2022 when it increased 2%.

The precipitous climb in the number of these incidents coincided with an increased focus on immigration enforcement by both local and national politicians. These discussions have largely centered on Latinos, and the demographic has been targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in L.A. and across the country.

The League of United Latin American Citizens — one of the nation’s oldest Latino advocacy organizations, which focuses on civil rights, education and employment — has been following the rise in anti-Latino hate crimes and connected it to a recent rise in anti-immigrant legislation across the country.

“My feeling is that it has a lot to do with the rhetoric that we hear today about immigrants, primarily coming from the president and this administration, which has provided the space, the opportunity for people to air or take action specifically against immigrants,” LULAC CEO Juan Proaño told The Times. “It doesn’t matter if they’re undocumented immigrants or if they’re legal citizens, this period of Latino hatred should be concerning for everyone in the country.”

Proaño noted that the organization gets “hundreds of emails a week” from Latinos who are concerned about rising levels of animosity. The concerns over hate-related crimes has become such a flash point that for the first time in its 97-year run, LULAC will be onboarding a researcher specifically to track xenophobia and anti-Latino hate in the U.S.

“In order for (the rise in hate crimes) to be possible you’ve had to create an environment in which it is acceptable,” Proaño said. “Now the environment is you can pick up the phone and call ICE on somebody because there’s a fear factor. ... Folks have been very outwardly spoken and in actions attacking Latinos. And it’s very, very sad.”

In 2023, hate crimes against Latino people increased by 19% year over year in California, with a total of 144 incidents as the overall number of hate crimes increased 7% in the Golden State.

In L.A. County, the number of hate crimes in which victims were identified as Latino also increased from 2023 to 2024, with 25 more incidents reported, for a total of 71. Preliminary data from the Orange County Human Relations Commission charted 119 hate crime events in the county, a statistic that accounted for roughly 6% of the statewide share.

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