The AI-generated post was shared by the official DHS account on X.
TOI correspondent from Washington: The Trump administration’s homeland security image targeting the generic “Mr Singh” has struck a particularly sensitive nerve in the Sikh community, whose members have become a highly visible presence in American trucking, business, and indeed in public life. However, the post was later deleted.
NAPTA says its membership includes about 1,400 companies operating more than 9,000 trucks, while industry estimates have put the share of US trucking companies controlled by Punjabi/Sikh operators as high as 20%. In 2004, Chirinjeev Kathuria became the first Indian-American to run for the US Senate while wearing a turban.
Ranjeev Singh Puri, a Michigan Democrat, said Wednesday that the post had particularly personal resonance. It is not a punchline, it is a surname carried proudly by millions of Sikhs worldwide, generations of whom have served this nation, built businesses, and strengthened the fabric of our democracy,” Puri said, calling the DHS post “xenophobia dressed up as public policy. ” The controversy also puts a spotlight on prominent Sikh Republicans. The community’s influence extends beyond driving. Many early drivers became owner-operators and eventually fleet owners. The figures are estimates, not government census data, but underscore the scale of the community’s entrepreneurial network. “As a proud Sikh-American, my middle name is Singh. So are my sons’. Harmeet Dhillon, who serves as Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, and Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and former US ambassador to the United Nations, had not publicly commented on the matter at the time of writing. Sikh-American political and civic visibility extends well beyond trucking. Other prominent Sikh-Americans include World Bank President Ajay Banga and former US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara, neither of whom carries the Singh surname.