Two deadly crashes involving semi-truck drivers who were in the United States illegally have sparked a fierce national debate over commercial driver’s license (CDL) regulations, immigrant eligibility, and public safety. The incidents—one in California and another in Florida—left six people dead and have prompted urgent calls for policy changes at both state and federal levels, with the issue now headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
On October 21, 2025, 21-year-old Jashanpreet Singh, an Indian national, was behind the wheel of a semi-truck on Interstate 10 in Ontario, California. According to ABC News, Singh was allegedly driving at a high rate of speed and under the influence of drugs when he plowed into stopped traffic. The resulting chain-reaction crash killed three people and injured at least three others. Prosecutors charged Singh with three counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and one count of driving under the influence of a drug causing injury. Singh pleaded not guilty in a Rancho Cucamonga court on October 24 and remains held without bail, with his next court appearance scheduled for November 4. A Punjabi interpreter has been requested for the proceedings, reflecting the linguistic needs of the defendant.
Federal authorities say Singh entered the U.S. illegally from India through the southern border in 2022 and was issued a commercial driver’s license by California as an asylum-seeker. The Department of Transportation (DOT) reported that Singh received a restricted, non-domiciled CDL on June 27, 2025. However, when he turned 21 on October 15, the California Department of Motor Vehicles allegedly removed the restriction and upgraded his license without applying the stricter standards that had gone into effect on September 26, 2025. These new emergency federal actions were designed to prevent noncitizens, including asylum-seekers, from obtaining or retaining CDLs. The DOT stated, “Gavin Newsom was explicitly warned California’s CDL program was dangerously broken. The USDOT’s emergency rule was issued to explicitly prevent drivers like Singh from getting behind the wheel of commercial motor vehicles.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom’s office responded by emphasizing that Singh’s federal employment authorization had been approved and renewed multiple times, which allowed him to obtain a CDL in accordance with federal law. Newsom’s office also criticized what it called attempts to “manipulate the facts to score cheap political points.” The case has drawn sharp criticism from federal officials, with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and President Donald Trump repeatedly highlighting what they view as systemic failures in CDL issuance to noncitizens.
Just two months earlier, another fatal crash involving an Indian-origin truck driver in Florida had already put the spotlight on the issue. On August 12, 2025, Harjinder Singh, a 28-year-old living in the U.S. illegally since 2018, attempted an illegal U-turn on Florida’s Turnpike near Fort Pierce. A minivan behind his big rig was unable to stop and crashed into the truck, killing its driver and two passengers. Harjinder Singh and his passenger were unharmed. He is currently being held without bond in St. Lucie County Jail, with his next court date set for November 13.
Florida officials revealed that Harjinder Singh had failed the CDL written test ten times in Washington state between March and April 2023 before finally being issued a license. According to The Associated Press, he later transferred his license to California, where, under state regulations, some out-of-state drivers can skip the road test. At the time of the crash, Singh held a valid California CDL. A post-crash evaluation by the U.S. Department of Transportation found that Singh could answer only two out of twelve English-language questions correctly and could identify just one of four road signs. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy called the incident “a preventable tragedy directly caused by reckless decisions and compounded by despicable failures.” Duffy further accused states like California of turning “the trucking industry into a lawless frontier” through “radical immigration policies.”
The White House echoed these concerns, blaming California’s “sanctuary state” policies for endangering lives. In a statement, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the two cases highlight a “disturbing pattern” of unqualified, undocumented drivers obtaining commercial licenses. Meanwhile, Newsom’s office pointed out that Harjinder Singh entered the U.S. in 2018, when Donald Trump was president, not after Newsom took office in California.
Florida has seized upon these incidents to launch a legal challenge against states like California and Washington, which issue CDLs to noncitizens and undocumented immigrants. Florida’s petition to the U.S. Supreme Court, filed in October 2025, argues that these state policies “defy federal immigration laws” and pose a serious threat to public safety. The petition seeks to have the high court bar states from issuing CDLs to people who are not U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents. Florida Attorney General’s Office described the situation as a “public nuisance”—a legal term typically used for local issues like blighted homes or dangerous animals, but now being invoked in the context of immigration and road safety.
If the Supreme Court accepts the case, the outcome could set a new precedent for how states issue not only CDLs but potentially even conventional driver’s licenses to immigrants. As Florida’s senior official told AP, a ruling could have “a downstream effect” on licensing for noncitizens nationwide.
In response to the outcry, the U.S. Transportation Department in September 2025 tightened CDL eligibility for noncitizens. Under the new rules, only three specific classes of visa holders are eligible, and states must verify an applicant’s immigration status using a federal database. The new SAFE Drivers Act will further restrict truck driver testing to English only and revoke licenses issued to undocumented immigrants, as the Trump administration presses for stricter enforcement across all states. Licenses for eligible noncitizens will be valid for up to one year or until the applicant’s visa expires, whichever comes first.
The trucking industry, which employs a significant number of immigrants—including an estimated 100,000 Sikh drivers in America, according to The Print—has found itself in the crosshairs of this debate. Some industry advocates worry that blanket restrictions could worsen driver shortages and disrupt supply chains, while others argue that public safety must come first. “The truth is I think we have a lot of abuse in the commercial driver’s license issuing space,” Secretary Duffy told Fox News. “So the question becomes … how in the heck can you ever pass a test for a commercial driver’s license? You can’t do it but for fraud.”
As the legal and political battles intensify, the families of the six victims in California and Florida are left to grapple with their loss. The two cases have become flashpoints in a broader national reckoning over immigration, regulation, and the responsibilities of state and federal governments to keep America’s roads safe. The coming months could see significant changes to how—and to whom—commercial driver’s licenses are issued across the country.
For now, the debate continues to rage, with both sides pointing fingers and demanding accountability, as the nation awaits the Supreme Court’s next move.
