WASHINGTON, Sept. 11 -- Hasbro has responded to the US Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) use of Optimus Prime in AI-generated material promoting deportations, saying the character was featured without its permission.

According to Entertainment Weekly, DHS shared several images on its official social media accounts on Wednesday, including one depicting the Transformers character with DHS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) branding.

Another showed Optimus Prime confronting a bearded Sikh man alongside the phrases "America for Americans", "Self-deport or find out" and "Get off our roads, you don't know how to drive, Mr Singh".

The post was removed on Thursday following criticism from Sikh and Indian-American groups, as we...