Styled as a spoof of a Transformers movie poster, the September 9 post linked the Trump administration’s self-deportation campaign to its crackdown on commercial drivers who fail to meet stricter English-language proficiency and licensing requirements.

The post went viral and drew criticism from several US politicians and members of the Sikh community, who accused the DHS of using stereotypes to target Sikhs and South Asians.

The advertisement was published as the US observed the anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Following the attacks, several Sikh men were targeted in anti-Muslim hate crimes and other violent incidents across the US.

Criticising the post, Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi wrote on X: “Our government should never use its power to demonize people or suggest that their faith, heritage, or identity means they do not belong here.”

He added: “Yet in an official social media post styled as a movie poster, the Trump Department of Homeland Security depicted a man labeled ‘Mr. Singh’ as the villain, told him to ‘get off our roads,’ and warned him to ‘self-deport or find out.’”

“More than 160,000 people in the United States share the surname Singh. When the government demonizes that name, a name carried by so many Sikh families, it fuels xenophobia and casts suspicion on an entire community. Sikh and South Asian Americans are as American as anyone. This is our country and our home, and there should be no room for hate here,” he said.

Michigan Democratic leader Rajeev Singh Puri also criticised the advertisement, saying: “When an official government agency mocks people for their name, their faith, or how they look, that is not strength.”

“It is xenophobia dressed up as a public policy,” he said.

Hindu Forum Canada also protested the advertisement in a post on X.

“You cannot label all Sikhs, all ‘Singhs,’ or an entire community based on the actions of a few individuals. That is stereotyping, and it is hurtful to the many Sikh and Indian Americans who work hard, obey the law, contribute to their communities, and have nothing to do with the conduct being criticized,” it said.

Raman Dhillon, who has worked in the trucking industry for 30 years and heads the North American Punjabi Trucking Association, said the use of “Singh” in the advertisement appeared to be a derogatory reference to Sikh truck drivers rather than an identification of a specific individual.

“That person who follows Sikh religion has the same middle name, Singh. So you're calling a whole Sikh community that,” Dhillon told CBS News.

The controversy emerged amid a wider federal crackdown on the commercial trucking industry.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration recently removed 110 commercial driver's licence (CDL) training providers from its registry after linking them to more than 5,000 drivers who failed English-language proficiency tests, CBS News reported.