Tolerance and permissiveness seem to be rising since then as far as I can see. Although you may be referring to the troubling rise in policies of institutional racism like race discrimination in university admissions, which I agree is one obvious thing that seems to be going backwards in recent times.
Even Obama was a right wing xenophobic racist nazi for suggesting the border should be secure, deporting illegal immigrants, separated and caged children. Not to mention all the other horrible stuff like claiming that marriage was between a man and a woman.
So yes I think I'm on good grounds to believe xenophobia and racism has been decreasing even within the past decade.
Obama absolutely would be called a racist xenophobe today based on his stated policies of border control, his mass deportation of illegal immigrants, and instances of separating immigrant children from their families. That is how far the window has shifted on this topic. Birthright citizenship doesn't change that.
So that's how far the window has shifted on the subject in a few short years. Therefore I think it is quite reasonable to question the allegation that racism and xenophobia is getting worse.
If these things are rampant, but on the decline, it's not the same thing. If they were more or less in check, but are now running wild through the decaying empire, that's the signal.
Again, my opinions are totally my own (and maybe somewhat overstated here) and don't reflect OP at all. Just a thought.