Sikh-Americans, and particularly those in the trucking industry, have been at the centre of a controversy since 2025.

Published on: Sep 11, 2026, 10:24:47 IST

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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.

Accidents involving Sikh-American truckers

Sikh-Americans, and particularly those in the trucking industry, have been at the centre of a controversy since 2025, following a pair of road accidents involving Sikh truck drivers. Conservative politicians and influencers questioned the immigration status and credentials of the drivers in question.

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.

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. Harder said he was outraged and that no one deserves to be targeted by Washington politicians because of their faith or name. "Taking these posts down is not enough. Whoever allowed this to happen should be fired."

Harder's fellow Democratic Party lawmakers Pramila Jayapal, Raja Krishnamoorthi, Adam Smith and Debbie Dingell also condemned DHS.

Members of Trump’s Republican Party also expressed concern. “The Central Valley [California] is home to a large and vibrant Sikh community. 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. He called DHS's post completely unacceptable. "…and I’m glad it was taken down.”

Sikh group accused Trump admin of racial profiling

Civil society groups like Sikh Coalition accused the Trump administration of targeting and racially profiling the community. “Twenty-five years after 9/11, Sikhs are *still* being targeted and profiled for how we look," the group said in an X post. It added that millions of Sikhs in the US have the last name Singh, which means lion. "We remain fearless in identifying as Sikhs—even when our government portrays us as enemies."

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.

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