Krishnamoorthi, Thanedar, Subramanyam, Jayapal, Bera Blast Trump DHS for Targeting Sikh Identity in Anti-Immigrant Post

WASHINGTON — Representatives Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), Shri Thanedar (D-MI), Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), and Ami Bera (D-CA) today blasted the Trump Department of Homeland Security for using Sikh identity to portray a dangerous, unwanted foreigner while promoting immigration enforcement, warning that the now-deleted “Mr. Singh” post fuels growing racist and xenophobic hostility toward Sikh and South Asian Americans. 

The DHS post depicted a brown, bearded man identified as “Mr. Singh,” told him to “get off our roads,” and warned him to “self-deport or find out.” “Singh” is intimately associated with Sikh identity, and the Members warned that its use in the post was not incidental, but degrading. 

In the letter, the Members write: 

“We write to express grave concern about the increasingly open racial and xenophobic hostility directed at South Asian Americans, particularly Sikh Americans, and about the ways federal rhetoric surrounding immigration and visa policy can reinforce the idea that these communities are suspect, disposable, or less American. South Asians are increasingly cast as economic interlopers, immigration cheats, people unwilling to assimilate, or simply people who do not belong here. Against that backdrop, it was appalling to see an agency of the United States government turn a man called ‘Mr. Singh’ into a racialized movie villain to be driven from the country.” 

The Members also raised concerns that DHS used the post to promote its new ICE tipline for reporting suspected commercial driver’s license fraud, while its social media messaging urged the public to report “illegal aliens on American roads.” They warned that, paired with the depiction of “Mr. Singh,” the campaign invites the public to treat perceived ethnicity, religion, or foreignness, rather than evidence of wrongdoing, as grounds for suspicion and creates an “obvious risk” of race-based profiling. 

The letter cites growing hostility toward South Asian Americans. Stop AAPI Hate found that anti-South Asian slurs in monitored online spaces increased 109 percent between January 2023 and December 2025 and that South Asians accounted for 71 percent of anti-Asian online threats of violence identified between August 2024 and December 2025. The Members also pointed to recent anti-Indian hostility in Frisco, Texas, including rhetoric about an “Indian takeover,” “invaders,” and “anchor babies,” and a mayoral candidate referring to South Asian immigrants as “rats.”

The Members write: 

“When the federal government itself uses a recognizably Sikh identity as shorthand for someone dangerous, incompetent, and unwanted, it reinforces associations that have already had real consequences for Sikh Americans.” 

The Members are urging President Trump to direct his agencies, particularly DHS, to publicly acknowledge the harm caused by the post, establish and enforce standards prohibiting federal communications that traffic in racial, ethnic, religious, or national-origin stereotypes, and make clear that immigration enforcement must never be used to stigmatize South Asian communities.

The Members conclude: 

“South Asian Americans are not abstractions in an immigration debate, nor are they convenient symbols of foreignness. They belong in the communities they have helped build. For millions, this is their country and their home. There should be no room for such hate in our country.” 

The Members’ letter is available here.