'Get off our roads Mr Singh': Trump administration's 'self-deport' advertisement sparks row

A US department of homeland security (DHS) social media post targeting Indian Americans with the warning “self-deport or find out” has sparked an online backlash, with critics calling the campaign “racist” and “anti-Indian”.The AI-generated post, shared by the official DHS account on X amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, uses characters from the Transformers franchise.It features Optimus Prime, the franchise’s protagonist, confronting a brown-bearded man, “Mr Singh” with the message: “Self-deport or find out”.The post also carries the message: “Get off our roads, you don’t know how to drive Mr Singh”, drawing further criticism over its reference to the common Indian and Sikh surname.The campaign is part of the administration’s broader crackdown on illegal immigration and immigrant truck drivers.A related video features Megatron, the franchise’s antagonist, seeking the release of truck drivers Harjinder Singh, Rajinder Kumar, Bekzhan Beishekeev, Akhror Bozorov and Jasveer Singh, who were involved in road accidents and other crimes.“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 an X post.The use of “Mr Singh” in the campaign drew sharp criticism from advocacy groups, including the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) and Sikh Coalition.“‘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,” HAF said in a post on X.“This is a discriminatory post by a federal agency that is far beyond political messaging, and we welcome an investigation,” the foundation said, tagging Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K Dhillon and FBI Director Kash Patel.The Sikh Coalition also criticised the campaign, saying Sikhs continue to face profiling based on their appearance.“Twenty-five years after 9/11, Sikhs are still being targeted and profiled for how we look,” the organisation said, news agency PTI reported.“Millions of Sikhs in the United States have the last name Singh, which means lion. We remain fearless in identifying as Sikhs – even when our government portrays us as enemies,” it added.The controversy comes as the DHS promotes its CBP Home programme, which allows eligible undocumented migrants to register their intention to voluntarily leave the United States.Migrants who register for self-deportation can receive travel assistance and an exit bonus of $2,600, according to the DHS.The campaign's focus on commercial drivers comes amid a broader US crackdown on undocumented migrants working in the trucking industry.Catch the latest World News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.