The Sikh community is suffering from racism fueled by the Trump administration

As on so many other days over the years, Gurvinder Singh was working as a truck driver on September 13 when a man stabbed him 17 times. Singh was headed to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and had stopped at a gas station in Wyoming when, for no reason, he was attacked by a white supremacist.

Local police arrested Andrew Kris Bzdak, who has been charged with first-degree attempted murder. Authorities have not yet determined a motive. However, for the director of an organization that defends the rights of Punjabi Sikhs it is hard not to connect the attack to a post the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published on its social media four days earlier. The post showed an image of a bearded man wearing a turban with the caption: “Get off our roads, you don’t know how to drive, Mr. Singh.” The DHS took the post down the next day, but it had already been circulated.

“That post was published by DHS on September 9 and then this happened on September 13. As a community we cannot ignore the fact that, although we cannot attribute the attack to that post, we cannot deny that it fanned the flames of hatred and xenophobia in the United States,” says Jasjit Singh, director of legal services at Jakata Movement, a California-based nonprofit that advocates for Punjabi Sikhs.

The DHS said the post referred specifically to Harjinder Singh, a Sikh man accused last year of causing a fatal crash in Florida that killed three people in a minivan. But it is difficult to limit the comment to one man when most Sikhs share the surname Singh.

“It’s debatable, because they know exactly what they’re doing when they write ‘Mr. Singh,’ since Singh refers to all Sikh men in the world,” Jasjit Singh points out. “In my view, that post was deliberately designed to stoke fear, xenophobia, and anger. They are more worried about anyone linking this attack to their ad, calling any such claim reckless. But in my view, the recklessness came from DHS itself.”

Jasjit visited Gurvinder in the hospital, where he was recovering from his injuries. His organization is providing legal support while calling for an investigation into whether the attack was motivated by race, religion, ethnicity, or national origin.

The Sikh community is another bearing the brunt of the Trump administration’s immigration policies. “The Sikh community is equally affected — just like our Latino brothers and sisters — by this administration’s immigration policies,” Jasjit says. Thousands of Sikhs have lost their jobs because of the administration’s crackdown on truck drivers.

Donald Trump ordered strict checks for freight drivers and required the revocation of licenses for those who do not speak English. To obtain or renew a license, applicants must now prove their immigration status and have work authorization; immigration programs such as Temporary Protected Status (TPS) or DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) no longer suffice.

Of the 200,000 truck drivers in the U.S. who are foreign-born, at least 100,000 are Sikh, and many have lost their permits and their jobs. Department of Transportation data show about 28,000 licenses were revoked through May. Industry sources estimate the figure has reached 30,000. Drivers who lose their jobs often turn to gig platforms like Uber, Lyft or DoorDash, but earnings in those roles — where the same level of professional qualification is not required — are much lower.

Racism and xenophobia, fueled by the administration’s anti-immigrant rhetoric, have harmed Sikhs in ways beyond the economic. Like Latinos, they have also experienced racial profiling by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during arrests. Their appearance is distinctive: most men grow beards and wear turbans. The harassment of migrants has prompted some to change their appearance, shaving their beards and refraining from covering their heads.

A recent study by Stop AAPI Hate, a group that fights racism against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, found that between January 2023 and December 2025 the use of slurs targeting people of South Asian descent rose by 109%.

“Growing anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies, together with a backlash against the increased visibility of South Asians, have contributed to heightened hostility toward them. As a result, many people worry about their safety and belonging in the U.S., leading some to withdraw from civic, political, and community life,” the report says. Compared with the previous administration of Joe Biden, ICE actions involving South Asian citizens increased dramatically, with deportation figures roughly 14 times higher, activists say.

Sikhs originate from Punjab, a region of South Asia that now spans parts of India and Pakistan. The Sikh population in the United States is estimated at between 750,000 and one million people. The first arrived in the late 19th century and mainly worked in agriculture.

There was another wave of Sikh migration in the 1980s and, in recent years, more Sikhs have arrived from India seeking asylum. While many work in transportation, there are also Sikh doctors, educators, entrepreneurs, and public servants. They are united by their monotheistic religion, which has about 30 million adherents worldwide.

The community has suffered racist attacks after being mistaken for Muslims. A man named Balbir Singh Sodhi, who lived in Mesa, Arizona, was the first fatal hate-crime victim after 9/11. Four days after the terrorist attacks, he was shot dead in front of his gas station by a white supremacist who said he attacked him to avenge the September 11 attacks.

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