California’s CDL Issues Linked to Fatal Crash
The Department of Transportation (DOT) has indicated that California’s disregard for federal guidelines allowed illegal immigrant truck drivers to remain on U.S. roads, culminating in a tragic highway accident that claimed three lives.
Jashanpreet Singh, a 21-year-old Indian national living in the U.S. without legal status, managed to keep his commercial driver’s license (CDL) and even upgraded it shortly before allegedly causing a multi-vehicle collision while driving a large truck. This revelation comes as the Trump administration intensifies efforts to regulate illegal immigrant truck drivers across the country.
The DOT claims California overlooked an emergency order to revoke CDLs from undocumented drivers like Singh.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy expressed condolences for the victims’ families in a statement. He emphasized that if rules had been followed, the tragedy could have been avoided, pointing at California Governor Gavin Newsom’s adherence to federal regulations.
Duffy remarked, “California broke the law, and now three people are dead and two are hospitalized. These people must be brought to justice,” making it clear that accountability would follow.
According to the DOT, Singh acquired his CDL with no registered address on June 27 and had a “K restriction,” limiting him to driving within the state.
In light of the rising number of serious accidents involving illegal drivers, Duffy announced a crackdown on non-resident drivers on September 26. An audit revealed that 25% of sampled non-resident CDLs in California were improperly issued. The DOT directed California to cease issuing CDLs to individuals not residing in the state.
Under new federal rules, asylum seekers will be barred from obtaining a CDL without a permanent residence, and stricter standards are to be applied for all renewals, transfers, and upgrades.
However, investigations revealed that Singh, who celebrated his 21st birthday on October 15, was able to remove the “K restriction” from his license during an upgrade, even though California did not enforce the new stricter policies for undocumented immigrants.
If California had adhered to the federal regulations, Singh would have needed to revisit the DMV to remove the restriction and upgrade his CDL, at which point his undocumented status would have disqualified him from holding a CDL.
On October 21, days after renewing his license, Singh allegedly drove a semi-truck in San Bernardino County while under the influence of drugs, resulting in a crash that killed three individuals.
Singh entered the U.S. unlawfully through the southern border in 2022 and was released by the Biden administration. Immigration authorities subsequently sought local police assistance for his detention.
The DOT’s report notes that Governor Newsom had been alerted about the vulnerabilities within California’s CDL program, which was specifically designed to prevent situations like Singh’s from occurring.
