Washington: The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has removed an AI-generated, Transformers-style advertisement featuring a character labelled “Mr Singh”, following strong criticism from Indian-American and Sikh advocacy groups as well as Democratic leaders.
The advertisement was part of a DHS campaign targeting unlicensed commercial drivers. It showed a bearded man with the tagline: “Get off our roads, you don’t know how to drive, Mr Singh.”
The post triggered criticism from several Indian-American and Sikh organisations, which accused the department of using racial and religious stereotyping. Democratic leaders, including California Governor Gavin Newsom and Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, also criticised the campaign.
Newsom’s press office described the post as offensive and accused the Trump administration of targeting the Sikh community with racist propaganda.
Organisations including the Hindu American Foundation, Sikh Coalition, HinduAction and Coalition of Hindus of North America also condemned the advertisement, calling it inappropriate and racist.
The Hindu American Foundation welcomed the removal but said deleting the post was only a first step, arguing that Indian-American, Sikh, Hindu and South Asian communities deserved better from the US government.
DHS continues campaign featuring truck driver cases
Despite removing the “Mr Singh” advertisement, DHS posted a video featuring truck driver Harjinder Singh, who was arrested following a road accident last year allegedly caused by an illegal U-turn. Three people were killed in the crash.
In a related post, DHS used a short clip featuring Megatron, the main villain from the Transformers franchise, discussing the release of “aliens” — a term used by the US administration to refer to foreign nationals.
The clip showed Megatron calling for the release of truck drivers Harjinder Singh, Rajinder Kumar, Bekzhan Beshkeyev, Akhror Bozorov and Jasvir Singh, who the department linked to road accidents or other offences.
DHS said in its post that anyone entering the US with “hostile intent” should know that the government would defend the country and “Americanism”.
The controversy over the “Mr Singh” advertisement comes amid an ongoing US immigration and enforcement campaign targeting undocumented migrants and commercial drivers.
