The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has removed the controversial poster calling for “Mr Singh” to self-deport following a strong backlash from Indian-American groups and Democratic leaders such as California Governor Gavin Newsom, who described it as “racist propaganda”.
“This is disgusting. This is not the first time the Trump administration has politicised the crash, as Singh received his commercial license and lived in California, which is run by the rival Democratic Party and opposes Trump’s crackdown on immigration. Singh,” read a tagline of the DHS post, featuring an image of a South Asian, presumably Sikh man.
It added that millions of Sikhs in the US have the last name Singh, which means lion.
Trump’s government is trafficking in racist propaganda targeting the Sikh community,” Newsom’s press office said in a post on X. Democratic Senator Adam Schiff also accused the Trump administration of “obvious bigotry” for “casting suspicion on millions of Americans based on their background and appearance. DHS called Schiff’s accusation a lie and said, “This may be the laziest lie you’ve ever told and that’s saying something. The controversy erupted after the Trump administration posted a short video clip on X showing Megatron, the main antagonist character in the Transformers franchise, negotiating the release of “aliens” — a term used to describe foreign nationals by the US administration. “America for the Americans,” said another tagline in the post, which garnered millions of views before it was taken down. “Twenty-five years after 9/11, Sikhs are *still* being targeted and profiled for how we look,” the group said in an X post. “We remain fearless in identifying as Sikhs—even when our government portrays us as enemies.”
Earlier reporting noted: “Get off our roads, you don’t know how to drive Mr. Earlier reporting noted: Since then, the Sikh American community has unwittingly become the public face of a campaign of President Donald Trump’s administration to suspend licenses and tighten English language rules in the industry. Earlier reporting noted: Civil society groups like Sikh Coalition accused the Trump administration of targeting and racially profiling the community.
“If you approach this nation with hostile intent, know this. We will defend ourselves. We will defend Americanism.
We will defend our home,” the DHS said in a post on X.
