On August 12, 2025, a deadly crash on the Florida Turnpike set off a storm of controversy that has rippled far beyond the accident scene, touching on immigration, religion, and the very fabric of America’s trucking industry. The incident involved Harjinder Singh, an India-born truck driver, who authorities say made a U-turn that caused a collision, tragically killing three people. While Singh now faces manslaughter and vehicular homicide charges and is being held without bond, the aftermath of the crash has been felt most deeply by the Sikh community—especially the thousands of Sikh truckers who keep the country’s highways moving.
The crash quickly escalated into a national debate, with Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis and California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom trading barbs over immigration policy. According to Associated Press, DeSantis even dispatched Florida’s lieutenant governor to California to oversee Singh’s handover, labeling him a “thug.” For many, such rhetoric seemed less about the facts of the case and more about political point-scoring. As Sukhpreet Waraich, a trucker and business owner in Fontana, California, put it, “I’ve been talking to a lot of truck drivers, and they’ve been saying, ‘People look at us different now.’”
But the fallout has gone well beyond politics. Members of the Sikh trucking community in California and across the nation say they’ve seen a spike in anti-Sikh and anti-immigrant vitriol. Online, the comments have been especially harsh—“Take the towel heads off the streets” and “Make our roads safe by taking immigrants off the street,” are just some of the slurs recounted by Prahb Singh, a Riverside-based trucker and U.S. citizen who emigrated from India as a child. “All of this before a judge gives a sentence. It was a mistake by a driver, not the whole community,” he said, echoing a sentiment widely shared among Sikh drivers.
Estimates from the North American Punjabi Truckers Association, as cited by Hindustan Times, suggest that Sikhs make up about 40% of all truck drivers on the West Coast and around 20% nationwide—a staggering figure given the community’s overall numbers in the U.S. Raman Dhillon, the association’s CEO, estimates there are between 150,000 and 250,000 Sikh truckers in the country, though no official count exists. These jobs aren’t just a means of making a living; they’re a lifeline, allowing Sikhs to maintain religious practices such as keeping beards and turbans, which can be difficult in other professions.
Since the crash, reports of harassment have surged. Dhillon shared that some Sikh drivers have been ejected from truck stops—one man was denied access to a shower in Oklahoma. The sense of being unfairly targeted is palpable. “This is a tragedy; it was an accident, and every Punjabi, every Sikh, feels for the victims’ family,” said Harsimran Singh, CEO of Gillson Trucking in Stockton, California. “But the way that this case has been handled has many, many people in my community fear for their future in this country.” The fear is not unfounded—five of Harsimran’s drivers have quit since the incident, citing concerns for their safety.
The legal case itself has become a flashpoint in the broader immigration debate. Florida authorities claim Harjinder Singh entered the U.S. illegally from Mexico in 2018. However, California officials counter that federal authorities confirmed he was in the country legally with a work permit when he was issued a driver’s license. The Trump administration weighed in, arguing Singh should never have received a commercial driver’s license due to his immigration status and a supposed failure of an English proficiency test after the crash. Yet, New Mexico officials released a video of a traffic stop showing Singh communicating in English with an officer—undercutting claims of his inability to speak the language.
For many, the details of the case have been lost in the noise of partisan politics and online outrage. The Sikh community, in particular, feels as though it has been put on trial. Jasdeep Singh, who attends a gurdwara (Sikh house of worship) in Fremont, California, has heard reports of children being bullied at school since the crash. “The whole community has been put on trial because we’re so visible,” he said. “It was always there but now it’s on another level. In 9/11, they thought we were Muslims. But this time, there’s no confusion. If you ask me, it’s worse.”
The Sikh Coalition, the largest Sikh advocacy group in the U.S., has been working tirelessly to ensure that Singh receives a fair trial and that the community is not demonized. Harman Singh, the coalition’s executive director, warned, “Anytime an incident like this occurs and we hear and see heightened rhetoric targeting the community, targeting people’s articles of faith, suggesting that our community is somehow uniquely lawless or criminal, that ends up resulting in increased violence.” The coalition has stepped up outreach efforts to educate Sikh truckers about their rights and to provide support in the face of growing hostility.
UNITED SIKHS, another advocacy group, organized a gathering outside the Florida jail where Singh is being held. They prayed for the victims and offered to help families with funeral costs, while condemning the discrimination directed at Sikhs. “Many immigrants have settled here, fleeing religious and other persecution, and we value the equal opportunity afforded to them by our legal system,” said Gurvinder Singh, the group’s international humanitarian aid director.
The Sikh religion, founded over 500 years ago in India’s Punjab region, now counts about 25 million followers worldwide. In the U.S., the community’s history is marked by both resilience and hardship. Since the September 11, 2001 attacks, Sikhs—especially men wearing turbans and beards—have been frequent targets of discrimination, bullying, and hate crimes. The recent spike in anti-Sikh rhetoric is a painful reminder of the challenges that persist. FBI data, as noted by Harman Singh, shows Sikhs remain one of the most targeted religious groups in the country for hate crimes.
Trucking remains a crucial pillar for Sikh families across the U.S., offering both financial stability and religious freedom. Manpreet Kaur, education director for the Sikh Coalition, explained, “There’s a certain agency that is afforded to an individual, especially for those who might be wearing a turban, keeping their unshorn beards, that is not available in the ordinary workplace. You’re able to, for example, park and pray.” But with the current wave of negative rhetoric, she worries that this sense of freedom and acceptance could be at risk.
As the legal process unfolds in Florida, the Sikh community and its allies are urging Americans to resist the temptation to judge an entire group by the actions of one individual. “We want to make sure that there’s legal proceedings and a process there to make sure that the family receives justice,” Harman Singh emphasized. “But that should happen through the courtroom. It shouldn’t happen through headlines. It shouldn’t happen on social media. And it certainly shouldn’t happen with very divisive rhetoric about a community at large.”
The story of Harjinder Singh’s crash is, at its core, a tragedy. But for the Sikh trucking community, it’s also a test—of America’s commitment to fairness, to due process, and to the principle that no one should be scapegoated for the actions of another. The coming months will reveal whether those ideals still hold true on the nation’s highways and in its hearts.
