The White House criticized California for granting a commercial vehicle license to an unauthorized Indian immigrant involved in a fatal crash that claimed three lives. The driver, identified as 21-year-old Jashanpreet Singh, was revealed to be an illegal immigrant from India by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
During a media briefing, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt condemned the situation as part of a troubling trend where “criminal illegal aliens” are permitted to operate heavy commercial vehicles on American roads without meeting federal standards.
Leavitt confirmed that California issued the license to the individual, and the Department of Transportation had already initiated an inquiry into the matter. The Department of Transportation (DOT) launched an investigation into how Jashanpreet Singh acquired a Commercial Driver’s Licence (CDL) in California.
Following Singh’s arrest for manslaughter while intoxicated and driving under the influence, the US Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, criticized California for neglecting federal safety regulations. Duffy emphasized that California’s failure to enforce English-language testing requirements for commercial truck drivers was unacceptable and could result in the state losing significant federal highway safety funding.
The tragic incident occurred on the I-10 Freeway in San Bernardino County, California, where Jashanpreet Singh caused a collision by crashing into slow-moving traffic without applying brakes, resulting in a fatal fire. Toxicology tests confirmed that he was under the influence of drugs at the time of the crash. Singh, identified as a criminal illegal alien from India by the Department of Homeland Security, entered the US illegally in 2022 and was released under the Biden administration.
In response to such incidents, the Trump administration has endorsed the SAFE Drivers Act, which aims to prevent states from issuing commercial driving licenses to undocumented immigrants. The proposed legislation seeks to eliminate foreign-language truck driver tests and requires states to provide annual reports on issued licenses, revocations, and non-compliance to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
The bill was prompted by a similar case in Florida involving Harjinder Singh, another undocumented immigrant from India, who caused a fatal accident in August. Despite lacking English proficiency, Harjinder Singh was issued a CDL by California.