The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the federal public security agency, deleted a social media post following backlash for racially profiling Sikh Americans and criticism from around a dozen lawmakers and civil society groups.
“Get off our roads, you don’t know how to drive Mr. Singh,” read a tagline of the DHS post, featuring an image of a South Asian, presumably Sikh man.
“America for the Americans,” said another tagline in the post, which garnered millions of views before it was taken down.
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.
Civil society groups like Sikh Coalition accused the Trump administration of targeting and racially profiling the community. “We remain fearless in identifying as Sikhs—even when our government portrays us as enemies. It added that millions of Sikhs in the US have the last name Singh, which means lion.
“Twenty-five years after 9/11, Sikhs are *still* being targeted and profiled for how we look,” the group said in an X post. Sikh Coalition said it has written to Trump’s Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, a prominent Sikh-American, seeking action against those using “fear-mongering” against the community.
How lawmakers slammed ‘disgusting’ post
Josh Harder, a Democratic Party Congressman from California, criticised the DHS, calling its social media post attacking the Sikh community disgusting and discriminatory. “Taking these posts down is not enough. Whoever allowed this to happen should be fired. Members of Trump’s Republican Party also expressed concern. “The Central Valley [California] is home to a large and vibrant Sikh community. He called DHS’s post completely unacceptable.
Because of their faith or name, harder said he was outraged and that no one deserves to be targeted by Washington politicians.
Sikh Americans deserve to be treated with the same dignity and respect as anyone else,” said Republican Congressman David Valadao, who represents a California district. “…and I’m glad it was taken down.”
