NRI PULSE STAFF REPORT
Washington, DC, September 10, 2026: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security removed a controversial social media post targeting “Mr Singh” on Thursday after it drew widespread criticism from Sikh and Hindu American organizations, elected officials and civil rights advocates who accused the federal agency of racial and religious stereotyping.
The post, published Wednesday on DHS’s official social media account, featured an AI-generated image of a bearded, brown-skinned man wearing a head covering facing Optimus Prime, the popular character from the Transformers franchise, with a DHS insignia on his armor.
“America for Americans. Get off our roads; you don’t know how to drive Mr Singh,” the graphic said. Other messaging associated with the campaign included the warning, “Self-deport or find out.”
DHS removed the post Thursday morning, according to The New York Times. The department did not immediately explain why it had deleted the image.
DHS, however, pushed back against criticism that the graphic was aimed broadly at Sikhs. In a statement cited by The Times, the department said the “Mr Singh” depicted in its campaign was intended to represent Harjinder Singh, an Indian national charged in connection with a 2025 Florida Turnpike crash that killed three people.
“Harjinder Singh is an illegal alien from India who should never have been in our country,” DHS said.
Singh was driving a tractor-trailer on Florida’s Turnpike when authorities say he attempted an unauthorized U-turn, leading to a collision that killed three people. His case subsequently became a focus of the Trump administration’s campaign against undocumented immigrants driving commercial vehicles.
The DHS campaign also included a Transformers-themed video highlighting several drivers the agency said were in the country illegally, including Harjinder Singh, Rajinder Kumar, Bekzhan Beishekeev, Akhror Bozorov and Jasveer Singh.
Critics argued that whatever individual DHS intended to reference, using the generic “Mr Singh” alongside the assertion that he did not know how to drive stereotyped a surname shared by millions of people.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Washington Democrat, said the deletion followed an immediate public outcry.
“DHS took this post down because of the immediate backlash and outrage,” Jayapal said. “This is incredibly racist and should have NEVER been posted.”
Jayapal also pointed to the rise in anti-Sikh hate crimes. “Anti-Sikh hate crimes increased 25% last year. Demonizing entire communities like this is unacceptable,” she said, thanking those who objected to the post.
Data released for 2025 show 177 reported anti-Sikh hate crimes, compared with 142 in 2024, according to an analysis cited by the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, an increase of nearly 25 percent.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s press office was also sharply critical.
“This is disgusting,” it said. “Trump’s government is trafficking in racist propaganda targeting the Sikh community.”
DHS responded directly to Newsom, pointing to California’s issuance of a commercial driver’s license to Harjinder Singh. “Hey Gavin, YOU gave him his CDL and then he killed three people with his tractor-trailer,” the department said.
The Coalition of Hindus of North America, or CoHNA, which had objected to the original post, welcomed its removal while arguing that the larger issue went beyond a single social media graphic.
“Prosecute INDIVIDUALS who break the law. Do not stigmatize entire communities because they share a name, religion, ethnicity, or background,” CoHNA said.
The organization said names such as Singh and Kumar are shared by millions of Hindu, Sikh and Indian Americans and warned against using them in ways that could associate entire communities with criminality.
“Dangerous drivers come from all backgrounds, ethnicities, faiths and last names,” CoHNA said in its initial response. “Singling out SOME last names does nothing for safe streets, but it does endanger the safety of hundreds of thousands of Americans with names like Singh and Kumar.”
“We are glad the post was deleted,” CoHNA said Thursday. “But the principle is bigger than one post.”
Hindu American organizations also joined the criticism.
HinduACTion said that Singh is a surname used by both Hindus and Sikhs and argued that individuals accused of crimes should be identified on the basis of their actions rather than their surnames or communities.
“Treating every Singh as a suspect because of the actions of anti-India Khalistan cult terror supporters is lazy, bigoted, and strategically stupid,” the group said. It called on DHS to identify specific individuals or networks it believes are responsible for wrongdoing rather than broadly invoking “Singhs.”
The Hindu American Foundation similarly condemned the DHS post.
“‘Singhs’ are Hindu, they are Sikhs, they are American and they drive,” HAF said. It called the post “racist, un-American, anti-Indian profiling/trolling” and said such messaging by a federal agency warranted investigation.
HAF also questioned DHS’s use of the Transformers franchise and tagged Hasbro, Takara Tomy and Paramount Pictures in its response.
Hasbro subsequently distanced itself from the campaign, saying DHS had not received permission to use its characters.
“Hasbro is aware of the recent posts using our characters,” the company said in a statement reported by The New York Times. “These posts were done without permission and do not represent the Transformers brand or Hasbro.”
The timing of the controversy, one day before the 25th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, added another dimension to the backlash.
A group of Sikh American state legislators issued a joint statement saying they were “horrified” that an official DHS account had used what they described as anti-Sikh stereotypes.
“On the eve of the anniversary of 9/11, a moment of profound national grief for America that also sparked a deadly wave of hate crimes against our communities, it is dangerous for a federal agency to spread vitriol instead of unity,” they said.
“For millions of Sikhs worldwide, ‘Singh’ is not a punchline or a slur. It is a surname carried with pride to signify equality,” the statement continued, pointing to generations of Sikh Americans who have served in the military, built businesses and contributed to their communities.
“When a government agency tasked with protecting all Americans instead mocks people for their name, faith, or how they look, it’s using the power of the federal government to fuel xenophobia and hatred,” the lawmakers said.
The statement called on DHS to remove the posts and issue a formal apology to the Sikh American community.
It was signed by Washington Deputy Senate Majority Leader Manka Dhingra, Michigan House Minority Leader Ranjeev Singh Puri, California Assemblywoman Dr. Jasmeet Bains, Virginia Delegate JJ Singh, New Jersey Assemblymen Ravi Singh Bhalla and Balvir Singh, and Georgia state House candidate Jyot Singh.
The Sikh Coalition separately noted the historical significance of the timing.
“Twenty-five years after 9/11, Sikhs are still being targeted and profiled for how we look,” the organization said. “Millions of Sikhs in the United States have the last name Singh, which means lion. We remain fearless in identifying as Sikhs — even when our government portrays us as enemies.”
While the “Mr Singh” graphic has now disappeared, other DHS posts connected to its campaign against undocumented commercial drivers remained part of a broader Trump administration effort to tighten immigration enforcement and remove people it says are driving commercially without lawful status.
