Mr Singh, get off our roads: Row over US's 'Transformers' AI poster on deportation

The US Department of Homeland Security is facing a huge backlash over an AI-generated Transformers-style poster targeting an Indian-origin truck driver named "Singh" amid Trump's immigration crackdown. Several social media users called the poster racist and demeaning.

In Short

• DHS posts AI-generated Transformers-style poster targeting Indian-origin truck drivers
• Poster shows Sikh man, calls for self-deportation of illegal drivers
• Social media users call DHS poster racist, demeaning to Sikh community

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is facing a massive backlash over an AI-generated Transformers-style poster targeting an Indian-origin truck driver named “Singh” as part of the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration and immigrant truck drivers.

The graphic, posted by the official DHS account on X on Wednesday, was styled as a movie poster titled “Transformers: Age of Deportations”. It showed a large Transformer bearing a DHS insignia facing a Sikh man wearing a head covering.

The poster carried the message, “America for Americans. Get off our roads; you don't know how to drive, Mr Singh.” It also urged people to “self-deport”.

Sikh and Punjabi Americans have a significant presence in US trucking, with Sikh advocacy groups estimating they account for about 20 per cent of the country's truck drivers.

The DHS post adapted the famous Optimus Prime line for its deportation message, tweaking references to ‘this planet’ and ‘humanity’ to ‘this nation’ and ‘Americanism’.”

“If you approach this nation with hostile intent, know this. We will defend ourselves. We will defend Americanism. We will defend our home.” The department also urged people to report “illegal aliens on American roads”, providing a hotline number.

SOCIAL MEDIA USERS CALL OUT 'RACIST' POSTER

The DHS's post drew criticism from several people, accusing the department of using a racial stereotype to demean the Sikh community, and promote its immigration enforcement message.

Sikh-American news anchor Alec Nolan, of Fox 7 Austin, called the post “racist and demeaning” to people with the surname Singh, while sharing his family's own history in the US.

“My grandpa’s name was Dan Singh. His father, Katha Singh, came to America from India decades ago to seek a better life. He became a raisin farmer in California,” Nolan said.

He added that his grandfather later took over the family business and also worked as a truck driver. “This post is racist and demeaning to anyone with the last name Singh,” he said.

Another user wrote, “DHS used to protect the homeland. Now making AI movie posters targeting Sikhs?” The user urged the DHS to focus on alleged commercial driving licence fraud instead of what the user called “racist posters”.

A third user hit back at the “America for Americans” messaging, writing, “Then you should be the ones first in line to leave this country, because no one in the US is truly American except the Native American.”

Some users mocked DHS's choice of Transformers, pointing out the irony of using the franchise in an anti-immigration campaign. “It’s hilarious using the ‘Transformers’ for this image when, in fact, they were illegal aliens to Earth who just happened to drop by without a visa,” one user wrote.

Another quipped, “All Transformers are immigrants btw.”

A separate post shared a Wikipedia screenshot of Sergeant Uday Singh, apparently in response to the DHS graphic, with the sarcastic caption, “Hmm.”

Sergeant Uday Singh, born in Jaipur, was an India-born US Army soldier who was killed in Iraq in 2003 at age 21 after being shot during an insurgent attack near Habbaniyah.

Another user wrote, “Why are you guys so f****ng racist and childish?”

The DHS poster controversy also came two weeks after the death of Peter Cullen, the veteran voice actor who gave Optimus Prime his iconic voice. Cullen died on August 26 at the age of 85.

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