A video recorded by an American passenger at London Heathrow Airport claims he couldn’t find a single British employee working there, that “every worker is Indian” and asking, “Where are the British people?”
Let’s leave aside that the Indian-origin workers are very much British. “Not a single worker” from check-in desks to security appeared to be British. And it’s become a flashpoint in Britain and in Indian media from The Times of India to NDTV and The Hindustan Times.
The American video taps into political themes of immigration, what it means to be British, and displacement of nativs – while equating Britishness with whiteness. And it plays broadly, because many countries have had increasing flashpoints over immigration, who holds “local” jobs, and what role immigrants play in key industries.
Heathrow employs more than 76,000 people, with around 17% foreign-born. (Many South Asians working there are U.K.-born.) Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi origin immigrants are among the largest ethnic minority groups in Britain. In London, and especially in boroughs around Heathrow such as Hounslow and Ealing, the Indian-origin population is especially concentrated. And this is important in explaining how jobs get filled.
- Migration flows: The UK has long-standing ties to South Asia through colonial and post-colonial migration. Since the 1950s and 60s, large Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi communities settled in London.
- Airport geography: Heathrow is in Hounslow/Ealing/Hillingdon, which are heavily South Asian residential areas. Employers tend to recruit locally, where the most willing applicants are – they have lower commuting costs, so the value of the wage is relatively greater. The airport workforce is influenced by demographics of the local community, rather than the broader city or country.
- Job characteristics: Ground handling, retail, and service jobs are low-barrier entry points for recent migrants and second-generation workers, especially when credentials from abroad don’t transfer easily into professional jobs.
This is hardly a phenomenon unique to London Heathrow. I’m much more familiar with the dynamics of Washington’s Dulles and National airports, where employment is dominant by East African (especially Ethiopian) workers.
The D.C. metro are has one of the largest Ethiopian and Eritrean diasporas in the world, plus growing Somali and Sudanese communities. There are 75,000 to 250,000 Ethiopians in the D.C. region. Many came through the U.S. refugee resettlement system (1980s onward for Ethiopians with later waves for Somalis and Sudanese). Northern Virginia suburbs like Alexandria, Arlington, Springfield, and Fairfax have high concentrations of East Africans.
It isn’t that airports actively “choose” one nationality, but that:
- Migration history creates the available workforce nearby.
- Employers hire heavily through community networks, so once a critical mass of one group is in place, it perpetuates.
- People work where their communities live, and airports are big stable employers.
At Heathrow, there’s a centralized brokerage (the Heathrow Employment and Skills Academy) that funnels nearby residents into airport jobs and apprenticeships. It concentrates hiring in the boroughs immediately around the airportwhich have very large South Asian populations (Hounslow alone is 36.7% Asian, with Indians 21% of residents).
Washington’s Airports Authority awards big chunks of work to concessions contractors under required Airport Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program regimes, which staff via community networks. About 60% – 75% of retail and food workers at National and Dulles have been reported to be Ethiopian. (I’m actually surprised required minority quota systems in airport contracts haven’t been targeted by the Trump administration, to be honest.)
And remember that many skilled immigrants are pushed into entry-level hourly roles where domestic licensing isn’t required. These are precisely the roles you find in abundance at airports.
There is a difference between holding citizenship of a country and being an ethnic member that country was founded on. Indians are not British. Whites are not Japanese if they have Japanese citizenship or were born in Japan. Japanese refers to the ethnic group for which it is named. British People are White Anglo Saxon/Jutes and throw in Scots, Welsh, and Celtic people.
Walk around London.. it looks like Halloween with all of the Darth Vader costumes you see. Tomorrow is the 9-11 Anniversary. Never ever forget who did this. Religion of Peace my azz.
What sort of psycho cares about the nationality of another country’s airport workers??
I worked at a UK bank and many of my colleagues, both in New York and the United Kingdom, were of South Asian origin.
Just another insensitive and ignorant post by an Ugly American.
this guy, like almost all Americans, doesn’t understand the difference between Britishness(a nationality), and Englishness(an ethnicity.)
We are talking about the indigenous people of Britain not merely “white.” If something similar happens to the indigenous people of any other land, it would be an uproar.
At some point people will wake up.
Cheap mass immigration to countries works, until it doesn’t…
Objectively, no, not every worker at Heathrow is Indian; yet, subjectively, some ‘feel’ like there are more than they would have expected for that place. Now of that really matters.
We’re all humans. It’s a decent airport that functions properly. DOH and DXB airports have a lot of South Asian workers, too; it never phased me. NYC’s airports are a ‘melting pot’ as well. We coexist just fine.
@Coffee Please — If we need to go down the list of violent extremists within every group, we can, but it doesn’t help. The bad acts of a few do not represent the group.
Just one more example, the Troubles, 30 years of sectarian violence between Catholics and Protestants, lest we forget. About 3,500 deaths. Mostly whites fighting other whites.
Unless we’re truly edging for a race war on here, there’s nothing good that comes from any of this ‘talk.’ And practically no civil wars end well for anyone. Just suffering for everyone.
Typo: *None (not ‘Now’)
I’m surprised our resident bigot @Walter Barry hasn’t weighed in yet; sir, how are Indians working at LHR “poisoning the blood of our country” (quoting #47 echoing some historical figure at a rally in 2023).
@Don — Bit more nuance with the British Empire and its history in India, but whatever, ignore all that… FILTHY ‘immigrants bad…’ *facepalm*
Oh, Pleazzzzzze
I’d rather have dinner with pleasant & interesting Indian folks ANYDAY over hanging out with the British Royal family especially when the Queen & Diana are now gone. Number one the food will be a lot better. White trash is white trash no matter the accent.
Come to think of it I’m going to order Indian food now from Grubhub!
And people wonder why the USA has a reputation for being racist…
The hilarity of this – this man is NOT American. Make all the ugly American comments you want, he is a self proclaimed “immigrateful” from Romania, living in Texas. Please do not give racists who move to another country and claim it as their own, a platform to spread their filth. Do some fact checking, it took me a while 2 minutes looking at his Instagram account. This guy has some nerve and I’m really disappointed to see something like this on VFTW. DO BETTER.
@Christian — It’s a human problem, though, yes, we Americans have a particular history of doing this, to whichever ‘out’ groups we seem to target at any given time, and, yet again, we appear to be repeating the worst aspects, today.
When our Supreme Court basically revives Korematsu and says, sure, the government can ethnically profile, and, yeah, why not, if they speak Spanish, then they must be ‘illegal.’
This stuff doesn’t end well for anyone. To hate others like this might make some feel better about themselves for a moment, but it just harms them, too.
@Christian
There were large anti-immigrant protests in the UK a couple of weeks ago. Germany shipping immigrants back to the Middle East. The Greek Parliament just said no to more refugees. France has had enough. So has Sweden, Germany, The Netherlands, Ireland, etc. Ask yourself why doesn’t the wealthy Middle East countries take the Syrian’s, Palestinian’s, etc. Here come the intolerant lefties. God Bless Charlie Kirk!
Hmmmmmmm, in the United States the majority of mass shooters are white males. The Unabomber was white. The Oklahoma Federal building bombers white self described Christians. So who is the biggest threat to our safety; White people just like me or the hard working Latinos that are being abused, arrested without due process leaving farmers with crops rotting in their fields. So, why aren’t the police in the United States stopping the main threat to our safety without cause or due process as they are doing to hard working immigrants? Many of these immigrants who are being assaulted by masked thugs with no visible identification are citizens and legal residents.
Breaking news…
Charlie Kirk has been shot dead while speaking at a rally.
@Coffee Please — I am deeply saddened by what happened today; regardless of his views, Charlie did not deserve that. We all should be able to speak our minds without facing violence. I hope there can be de-escalation, return to dialogue, even spirited, as that was Charlie’s own talent.
On Europe and immigration, I’ve been following; and there are real concerns, there and everywhere, yet, to blame a particular group, religion, ethnicity, etc. is not a good method, lest it be turned against you (or your group). There’s a better way; reforms are needed, here and there.
As to the Middle East oil monarchies, yeah, they really should be doing more to support their people in the region; I’ve said as much on Gaza. Why does Egypt, Saudi, UAE, Qatar, etc., not welcome those displaced as refugees… we know why.
@1990
Raise your American Flag tomorrow in support of those Islamist radicals (Religion of Peace my azz) that murdered thousands that day 24 years ago. Never forget. I won’t.
Breaking news: lots of Americans are RACIST.
What a banana republic.
Let’s not be the nation that believes skin tone is indicative of who someone ” is”
My prayers are with our country at this moment. Stop
The Violence.
@Coffee Please — Clearly, you are hurting; I feel for you.
Also, I literally live near the memorial in NYC; we have not forgotten here.
@David Arnett It follows that Caucasians are not Americans either (native Americans, who are dark skinned are).
Hypocrite AND racist. Probably bible thumping too (the hell with God’s commandment to “love another like thyself”)
The irony here is hysterical. We went to India; no one in India invited us Brits to their country. We looted trillions from the sub-continent. lol now we are getting mad that the Indians are coming to our country and taking jobs that “real” Brits dont want. Good for the workers at Heathrow; the government collects income tax and we have people working its a win-win
@Mary
Do you watch or read the news? Look what is going on in Western Europe, even Eastern Europe. Bottom line is this, people are tired of tak8ng in certain groups of people that have no interest in assimilating into society. Yes they will take all the benefits the taxpayers provide to them but will live in their separate neighborhoods with their rules and customs contrary to the country that took them in. Don’t believe me? Visit Molenbeek for example and report back. Caution, watch out for black flags.
@1990
You are a good person. So was Charlie Kirk. Yes I am sad today.
@Coffee Please — Maybe I am naive, but I still think there’s inherent ‘good’ in each of us as human beings. Like, from my experience, most folks care about others and seem to be trying their best, even in difficult circumstances.
That said, some do behave poorly at times; and, a few choose outright evil. I remain very concerned about politically-motivated violence in societies around the world for this era.
I try to take it a day, a step, a flight at a time. For instance, as much as many of us travel on here, I’ll admit, I still get a little anxious and/or excited before flights. Often causes me to have to pee (maybe it’s a prostate issue). But, I haven’t wet the seat yet! Anyway, that’s life; not always ideal. I donno if this is relevant or helpful. Just saying, we’re not alone.
I call BS. Service workers are usually those who can not get better paying jobs. They tend not to have post high school education.
When we were in the UK every service worker was from a country other then the UK. Belgium, Italy, Portugal, Korea, etc.
The word racism was invented to get White people to act against their self interest. It was literally created by communists. It’s natural for every race to show preference for its own and to want its own homeland. We don’t blame the Japanese for wanting Japan to stay Japanese. We shouldn’t blame White people for wanting the same. Open borders has been a disaster for the U.K, Europe, Canada, and the U.S. It makes no sense why Indians, Blacks, and Asians are allowed to have their own countries for their own people and be strict on immigration but White founded countries are evil if they do the same.
If I travel to Japan or India I don’t expect to see White or black workers at the airport, the trains, or cab drivers. Of course I would comment about it.
> (I’m actually surprised required minority quota systems in airport contracts haven’t been targeted by the Trump administration, to be honest.)
They seem to be obviously unconstitutional on their face to me.
If Harvard cannot discriminate based on race, seems pretty unlikely a governmental agency can.
So much stuff to be rolled back.
The “Indian” people working at Heathrow are just as British as white Americans are American.
The legacy of British colonial control of India is that millions of Indians were British subjects who had a British education – many of them in English – and could easily move to live in the UK.
Their UK-born children are far more “British” than white Polish immigrants are. They go to British schools, have friends of all races, watch the same TV and follow the same sports as white British people.
Do you think white Polish immigrants follow cricket, drink tea and go out for a curry on Saturday night? British people do – including ethnically Indian ones.
Whereas Polish immigrants (who are lovely btw) do things British people don’t do – watching Polish TV, eating Polish food and yes, going to Church.
This is why attempts to import great replacement theory politics into the UK fail as badly as the Dasani experiment did. People can tell straight away that the people complaining aren’t British.
And there seems to be a game, especially in the US, to find the person with the most strangled incomprehensible foreign accent to make the announcements
Where I live, Forsyth County Georgia, there is a large number of Indians. They are typically well educated as house prices here are the highest in the state. My dentist is a US-born Indian who is as southern as any local. You never hear about Indian kids getting arested.
It’s the same at JFK or Frankfurt (or most large airports, in countries with large scale immigration). These jobs don’t offer high wages and commuting to work at an airport isn’t attractive to many. Immigrants and people living in the economically depressed areas around the airport are the easiest to hire. In many Asian countries, working for an airline is still seen a desirable job and there’s a more diverse pool of talent, as a result.
@Kirk, your dentist is an American.
There’s nuance to everything in this dialog.
People of Indian origin tend to assimilate better and accept the culture of their chosen home.
– and even then there’s variation: certain groups will be better at this than others
“Washington’s Dulles and National airports, where employment is dominant by East African (especially Ethiopian) workers.”
Wonderful people I would add. I always joke there are as many habesha at IAD/DCA as there are at Bole in Addis.
United’s Asian Vegetarian Meal (implicitly: South Asian, politically incorrect: Indian) is universally not too good, except when originating from LHR. But aren’t there many South Asians in the SFBA? Well, they work an hour away SE of SFO.
I would imagine most airport jobs don’t pay a lot and LHR is located well outside the city. Therefore, no surprise those jobs get filled with immigrants. As long as immigrants are there/here legally, are law abiding, understand the concept of work not social services and do their job well I could care less about their nationality/ethnicity.
It’s been our 3rd trip to Portugal in the past 5 years and we could the difference. The number of Indians, Pakistaneses and Bangladeshis is growing.
I have discussed with locals and there is no resentment against them but against politics, because they are keep nurturing a labor society based on very low wages.
These aliens are very lowly paid on jobs that locals wouldn’t take.
I believe it is the same all across Europe, not only London.
Why raising wages while you can employ unlimited workforce at the legal minimum ?
@George Romey — That was actually a decent ‘take,’ George. Thank you.
On social media it has become okay to be racist towards Indians. So if you want to see the closeted racists, its the guys being racist towards Indians with fervor.
Fun to watch lefties go bonkers because the basic conclusion, as evidenced by accompanying video, is undeniable.
The usual attempts at equivocation and sophistry ensue, but the old tricks seem not to be working as well as they once did.
“Where are the British people?”
They are all in jail for posting “Where are the British people?” on social media. UK…What an absolutely sh1t country.
Gary, this was a thoughtful piece and glad you note by way of comparison “The D.C. metro are has one of the largest Ethiopian and Eritrean diasporas in the world, plus growing Somali and Sudanese communities.” People go where the jobs are, and having a shorter commute to an airport makes the salaries more attractive.