A Department of Homeland Security social media post targeting undocumented commercial drivers has been denounced as racist and accused of putting a target on Sikh Americans after it singled out a fictional driver as “Mr. Singh” and mocked him for not knowing how to drive.
The DHS post, shared on X on September 9, featured AI-generated imagery styled around the Transformers movie franchise and carried the messages “Self-deport or find out” and “Get off our roads, you don’t know how to drive, Mr. Singh.”
The use of the surname “Singh,” which is widely associated with Sikh men but is also used by people of different faiths and backgrounds, has prompted accusations that a federal agency is stereotyping an entire community while promoting the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement agenda.
The controversy comes just ahead of the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, a period when Sikh Americans have repeatedly raised concerns about being misidentified and targeted because of their appearance, turbans and beards.
The advocacy group Sikh Coalition said a quarter century after 9/11, Sikhs continue to face targeting and profiling based on how they look. The organization noted that millions of Sikhs in the United States have the last name Singh and said the community would continue identifying openly as Sikhs despite what it described as government profiling.
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California governor condemns DHS messaging
California Gov. Gavin Newsom also criticized the DHS campaign, calling it “disgusting” and accusing the Trump administration of “trafficking in racist propaganda targeting the Sikh community.”
The criticism adds to a growing political and community response to the post, which has been circulated widely online.
The Hindu American Foundation similarly accused DHS of “racist, un-American, anti-Indian profiling” and argued that Singh is a surname used by both Sikhs and Hindus who are Americans and members of many professions.
Other Sikh and Hindu organizations have also objected to the decision to connect the surname with allegedly dangerous or unqualified truck drivers.
The controversy has not centered on the government’s authority to enforce immigration or commercial-driving laws. Rather, critics have questioned why a federal enforcement campaign chose a surname so strongly associated with the Sikh community to illustrate its message.
DHS campaign links immigration enforcement with truck driving
The DHS campaign is part of the Trump administration’s broader effort to encourage undocumented immigrants to leave the United States voluntarily while intensifying enforcement against immigrants working in commercial transportation.
A related DHS video used the Transformers character Megatron while referring to foreign nationals as “aliens” and showing a number of truck drivers identified by DHS as having been involved in crashes or other offenses.
Those named included Harjinder Singh, Rajinder Kumar, Bekzhan Beishekeev, Akhror Bozorov and Jasveer Singh.
Another post showed Optimus Prime with a DHS insignia confronting a brown-skinned, bearded man wearing a head covering.
The department said its broader campaign was aimed at illegal immigration and enforcement on American roads. The use of Singh in the graphic, however, shifted attention toward the treatment of Sikh and South Asian communities.
The Statesman reported that the campaign also comes amid a wider federal crackdown affecting commercial drivers, including tougher scrutiny of licensing and English-language requirements.
Sikh truck drivers say they are being stereotyped
Sikh Americans have a significant presence in the U.S. transportation industry, making the combination of “Mr. Singh” and a truck-driving accusation particularly sensitive.
Several Sikh and Hindu organizations have accused DHS of shaming and stereotyping Sikhs, noting that many Sikhs work in the transportation sector, including as truck and semi-truck drivers. The Hindu American Foundation said dangerous drivers come from all backgrounds and argued that singling out surnames does nothing to improve road safety while potentially putting people with surnames such as Singh and Kumar at greater risk of discrimination.
Michigan Democratic leader Ranjeev Singh Puri, who identifies himself as a Sikh American, also objected to the use of Singh as a punchline.
“As a proud-Sikh American, my middle name is Singh. So are my sons,” Puri said, according to the Times of India. He said Singh was a surname carried proudly by millions of Sikhs.
Concerns recall earlier attacks on Sikh Americans
The controversy also comes against a backdrop of documented hate crimes and assaults involving Sikh Americans.
In November 2023, an elderly Sikh man, Jasmer Singh, was fatally beaten in Queens, New York, following a traffic collision. Prosecutors charged Gilbert Augustin with manslaughter and assault as hate crimes after witnesses said he repeatedly referred to Singh as “turban man.”
The attack followed another incident in which a Sikh teenager was allegedly assaulted on a New York City bus and told, “We don’t wear that in this country.” The attacker was charged with assault as a hate crime.
More recently, the treatment of Sikh truck driver Jashanpreet Singh became another point of concern after he appeared in a California court without his turban while facing charges connected to a fatal eight-vehicle crash.
Sikh advocates questioned the circumstances surrounding his appearance and stressed the religious significance of the turban.
These incidents have contributed to broader concerns within the Sikh community about how Sikh identity is perceived in the United States, particularly when turbans, beards or Sikh surnames become associated with crime, terrorism or immigration violations.
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9/11 anniversary adds sensitivity
The timing of the DHS post has intensified the reaction. Sikh Americans faced a sharp increase in discrimination and hate incidents following the September 11 attacks because some Americans mistakenly associated turbans and beards with Arab or Muslim identities.
The Sikh Coalition has repeatedly documented the community’s experience with profiling and hate crimes in the years since the attacks.
For critics of the DHS post, the decision to use “Mr. Singh” alongside an image of a turbaned or bearded South Asian-looking man and language about dangerous driving therefore carries significance beyond a conventional immigration advertisement.
The dispute ultimately highlights a difficult line for federal agencies: immigration and road-safety enforcement can be aggressively pursued, critics say, but government messaging can also shape how minority communities are perceived.
DHS has not provided a detailed public explanation for why the surname Singh was selected for the campaign. As the backlash grows, the controversy is likely to remain focused on whether the department’s enforcement message targeted individual conduct or inadvertently turned a widely recognized Sikh surname into a symbol of criminality and immigration violations.