Trump administration takes down controversial 'Mr Singh' self-deportation post after backlash over racism
PTC News Desk: The US Department of Homeland Security on Thursday took down a controversial advertisement on self-deportation after receiving massive backlash for allegedly targeting the Sikh community. The ad, which asked “Mr Singh” to self-deport, faced criticism from Indian-American groups, as well as, Democratic leaders for its “racist propaganda”.
The AI-generated image posted on X was part of the US Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) campaign against unlicensed commercial drivers in the US. It featured a brown-bearded man and carried the tagline: “Get off our roads, you don't know how to drive Mr Singh.”
Indian diaspora welcomes removal
Indian diaspora advocacy groups welcomed the removal of the advertisement.
The Hindu American Foundation said the DHS had removed the post after the group raised concerns about it. However, it said removing the post was only the first step, arguing that a federal agency had used a racialised caricature of an Indian or Sikh man to make a political point.
California Governor Gavin Newsom also criticised the advertisement after sharing a screenshot of the Transformers-style image, which has since been removed. He called it “disgusting” and accused the Trump administration of promoting racist propaganda targeting the Sikh community.
The DHS responded to the criticism with another post about truck driver Harjinder Singh, who was arrested last year after an accident caused by an illegal U-turn killed three people.
Sikh, Hindu advocacy groups hit out
Several advocacy groups, including Hindu American Foundation, Sikh Coalition, Hindu Action and Coalition of Hindus of North America, hit out at the "un-American and racist" advertisement.
"Singhs are Hindu, they are Sikhs, they are American and they drive. Racist, un-American, anti-Indian profiling/trolling by @DHSgov should shock our nation's collective conscience," Hindu American Foundation (HAF) said in a post on X.
- With inputs from agencies
