The head of federal immigration enforcement in Northern California apologized for posting an image on social media that Muslim American groups say is offensive because it dehumanizes Muslim women.

David Jennings, head of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in San Francisco, shared the image — an online meme that spread around the world — on LinkedIn in an attempt at humor. The Chronicle noticed the post this week.

The image depicts three patio umbrellas that are intended to resemble three people in body-covering burqas along with the caption, “I spent 30 minutes talking to them to learn more about their culture until the barman told me they were umbrellas.”

In a caption attached to the post, Jennings wrote that he was trying to use “lessons learned from my terrorism mentor … Guess I need more work.” After The Chronicle asked ICE officials about the post, Jennings removed it from the job-oriented social networking site.

Jennings said in a statement that it was “directed to a former co-worker and instructor in Arab culture and was meant to poke fun at myself and use me as an example to show that everyone can and should keep learning about people from different cultures, including people like me with extensive experience working with different cultures and traditions.”

“I am horrified that the post would be taken as anything other than a dig at myself, but upon further reflection, I understand how it could be interpreted otherwise and am truly sorry,” he said. “It was not my intention to offend anyone and I hope that the explanation of my intent assuages any hurt the post may have inadvertently caused.”

Jennings, who as field office director oversees immigration enforcement in California from Bakersfield to the Oregon border, as well as in Hawaii and Guam, shared the image three months ago. The post was “liked” by another ICE official in a separate office.

Immigration experts and advocates said the post raises concerns about Jennings and the way he views Muslims. The discovery comes amid increased tension between California and the Trump administration over ICE enforcement and the state’s pro-immigrant sanctuary laws.

“That he did not see the problem with his post until it was pointed out worries me about his ability to lead and carry out his duties, particularly as they relate to immigrants from Muslim-majority countries,” said Zahra Billoo, head of the Council on American-Islamic Relations Bay Area. “Unfortunately, this follows the trend that our president and his administration have set in their offensive and often dangerous language.”

During his campaign, President Trump called for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States” following terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino.

Jennings is currently on detail in Washington, D.C., agency officials said. He has been director in San Francisco since July 2016, overseeing the deportation officers assigned to the region and more than 300 employees in total, according to his LinkedIn page. Previously, Jennings directed the Los Angeles and Houston field offices.

Jennings has worked in immigration enforcement for more than 20 years except for a stretch from September 2001 to January 2005, when he was a senior special agent for the Joint Terrorism Task Force in Sacramento.

Dalia Mogahed, research director for the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, a think tank in Washington, D.C., that seeks to empower American Muslims, said that despite Jennings’ explanation that he was poking fun at himself, the post was “unsettling.”

“The ICE field director reproduced a link between terrorism and Muslims by tagging his ‘terrorism mentor’ on a post featuring a picture of what at first glance looks like Muslim women in full burqas,” she said.

The image, Mogahed said, reinforces the “othering of Muslims as a strange, almost alien species, dehumanized to the point of being mistaken for inanimate objects.” The meme, she said, “plays on the stereotype of silent and subjugated Muslim women, where the non-response of the umbrellas was not an immediate tip-off that these weren’t human beings.”

Last year in England, a politician from the conservative UK Independence Party was criticized and investigated by his party after sharing the image on Twitter, along with other posts about Muslims.

Pratheepan Gulasekaram, a professor and immigration expert at Santa Clara University School of Law, said Jennings’ senior position in ICE made the post more weighty.

“Because he is a law enforcement officer with supervisory power, and that power is primarily exercised in enforcement actions against those racially and religiously different than him, his bigoted joke raises serious concerns about what motivates his enforcement decisions,” Gulasekaram said.

He said the post “raises broader concerns about leadership in ICE, and how the supervisors of the largest federal law enforcement branch might dehumanize and ridicule minority cultures, races and religions, even as they are charged with investigating and enforcing against portions of those communities.”