Bathinda: A social media post by the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), asking people with the surname Singh to “self-deport”, has drawn criticism from US politicians of Indian origin and Sikh and Hindu organisations. The post is no longer available on the X account of DHS.The post is believed to have been created in response to road crashes involving Sikh truck drivers. It came a day before the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks in the US, when nearly 3,000 people were killed and several communities, including Sikhs, faced hate crimes.The Sikh Coalition said 25 years after 9/11, Sikhs were “still being targeted and profiled for how we look”. It said millions of Sikhs in the US have the surname Singh, which means lion, and added that Sikhs “remain fearless in identifying as Sikhs, even when our govt portrays us as enemies”.United Sikhs also condemned the post for portraying Singhs as dangerous truck drivers.The Hindu American Foundation said “‘Singhs’ are Hindu, they are Sikhs, they are American and they drive”, calling the DHS post “racist, un-American, anti-Indian profiling/trolling”. It said the post was “far beyond political messaging” and called for an investigation.The Coalition of Hindus of North America said, “Enforce the law. Do not caricature a people.” It said dangerous drivers came from “all backgrounds, ethnicities, faiths and last names”, and that singling out surnames such as Singh and Kumar “does nothing for safe streets” but endangered hundreds of thousands of Americans.Michigan Democratic leader Ranjeev Singh Puri said, “As a proud Sikh-American, my middle name is Singh. So are my sons.” Calling Singh “a surname carried proudly by millions of Sikhs worldwide”, he said generations of Sikhs had served the US and built businesses. He said mocking people for “their name, their faith, or how they look” was “xenophobia dressed up as public policy”.BJP national spokesperson RP Singh, tagging US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor, said he “strongly object[ed] to the use of Sikh identity and the surname Singh as a caricature in an official US govt deportation campaign”. He said the US had the right to enforce immigration laws, but “enforcement must never become an excuse for racial, ethnic or religious stereotyping”.“Sikhs did not come to America merely to drive trucks,” he said, adding that they had contributed as “scientists, farmers, entrepreneurs, soldiers, public servants and nation-builders”.