Trump admin takes down 'Mr Singh' self-deportation ad after backlash over racism

The US Department of Homeland Security on Thursday took down an advertisement on self-deportation after it received 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 on X featured a brown-bearded man. (X/@GovPressOffice)The AI-generated image on X, which was part of the DHS' campaign against unlicensed commercial drivers in the US, featured a brown-bearded man. The tagline read: “Get off our roads, you don't know how to drive Mr Singh.”

While the move was welcomed by Indian diaspora advocacy groups, as reported by news agency PTI, the DHS continued its attack on illegal immigrants, including Indian-origin people accused of crimes, in its subsequent posts on X.

Sharing a screenshot of the Transformers-style advertisement, which has now been pulled down, California governor Gavin Newsom slammed the DHS, saying, "This is disgusting. Trump's government is trafficking in racist propaganda targeting the Sikh community."

The DHS responded to the pushback with another post on truck driver Harjinder Singh, who was arrested last year after three people were killed in an accident caused due to an illegal U-turn.

Hitting back at the California governor, the DHS caption said, “Hey Gavin, YOU gave him (Harjinder Singh) his CDL and then he killed three people with his tractor-trailer.”

California senator Adam Schiff called out the Trump administration and termed the DHS advertising campaign "hateful, disgraceful and un-American".

"The administration and DHS make no effort to hide their obvious bigotry, casting suspicion on millions of Americans based on their background and appearance, in this case, the Sikh community," he wrote on X.

Several advocacy groups, including Hindu American Foundation, Sikh Coalition, HinduAction 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.

Tagging Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K Dhillon and FBI Director Kash Patel, the HAF said the “discriminatory” post by the federal agency was “far beyond political messaging” as they called for an investigation into it.

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