Illegal immigrant trucker accused of killing three people failed English, road sign tests: DOT
Harjinder Singh, who crossed into the United States illegally in 2018 via the southern border, obtained a commercial driver's license in California. He attempted to obtain work authorization, but it was rejected by the first Trump administration on Sept. 14, 2020, according to Tricia McLaughlin, Homeland Security assistant secretary for public affairs.
"During [Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's] interview with the driver, investigators administered an English Language Proficiency (ELP) assessment in accordance with FMCSA guidance," the Department of Transportation said in a statement. "The driver failed the assessment, providing correct responses to just 2 of 12 verbal questions and only accurately identifying 1 of 4 highway traffic signs."
The DOT indicated that the investigation began on Aug. 14, two days after the crash.
Singh has been charged with three counts of vehicular homicide. He was arrested in Stockton, California on Saturday.
According to the DOT, Singh was issued a regular full-term commercial driver's license in the state of Washington in July 2023, but that illegal immigrants are not allowed to obtain this type of license.
A year later, Singh was issued a limited-term/non-domiciled commercial driver's license in California. The DOT is investigating further whether the issuance of that license followed federal regulations.
On July 3, the New Mexico State Police pulled Singh over and conducted a roadside inspection of him. He was given a speeding ticket, but not subjected to an English language proficiency test, which was required by law beginning on June 25.
Singh allegedly made a U-turn in an unauthorized area on the Florida Turnpike, causing his truck to jackknife and collide with a minivan. The three occupants of the minivan died in the crash.
The crash sparked a bitter spat between the office of California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and McLaughlin, as Newsom's office tried to wriggle its way out of responsibility for Singh's work permit.
"Hey, genius: the federal government (TRUMP ADMIN) already confirmed that this guy meets federal and state immigration requirements -- YOU issued him a work permit (EAD). As usual, the Trump Administration is either lying or clueless," Newsom's office said in a post on X when criticized by McLaughlin.
"False. Harjinder Singh is in the United States illegally and his work authorization was rejected under the Trump Administration on September 14, 2020," McLaughlin replied. "It was later approved under the Biden Administration June 9, 2021. The state of California issues Commercial Drivers Licenses. There is no national CDL."
A spokesperson for Newsom told Fox News Digital that Singh was reissued a work permit on April 9, and once again blamed Trump.
"Why don't you ask Trump about the driver's federally issued work permit and when he entered this country?," the spokesperson said in a statement. "Spoiler alert: it was in 2018 under Trump — whoops. He would have been eligible in any state. California followed federal law, something the President knows nothing about."
"In fact, the driver in this case was reissued an Employment Authorization (work permit) on 4/9/2025 and, if my math is correct, that falls within the current presidential term," the statement continued.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hill
23 minutes ago
- The Hill
Trump visits federal law enforcement amid DC crime crackdown
President Trump on Thursday visited federal law enforcement at a U.S. Park Police operations center in Anacostia amid his crackdown on crime in Washington, D.C, touting what he described as significant changes to the nation's capital. Trump spoke to hundreds of federal law enforcement officers, including those from the FBI, ATF, DEA, National Guard, U.S. Marshal Service, the Secret Service, the Metropolitan Police Department and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). 'It's like a different place, different city,' Trump said of D.C. 'Now, I think right now it's better than it has been in years and in a couple weeks, it's going to be far better,' he said. Trump was flanked by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Attorney General Pam Bondi, deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro and deputy attorney general Todd Blanche, among others. 'It will look like Augusta,' Trump said, referring to the famous golf course in Georgia that hosts The Masters. 'We're going to be redoing all of your parks. And it's going to happen fast. It's going to go up like a miracle.' The president said that D.C. will be 'maxed out in terms of beauty.' Trump had suggested earlier Thursday that he would be going out with into D.C. with police and military to do 'a job.' His motorcade left the White House around 5 p.m. Thursday to visit the operations center in Anacostia, then returned to the White House just after 6 p.m. 'I'm going to be going out tonight, I think, with the police and with the military, of course. So we're going to do a job,' Trump told conservative radio host Todd Starnes on his show. 'The National Guard is great. They've done a fantastic job.' Trump's crackdown on crime in D.C. began on Aug. 11 when he first announced a takeover of MPD and surged federal law enforcement to patrol the city. Since then, 630 arrests have been made, according to data from the White House. Of those arrests, over 250 were illegal immigrants, as the White House added Immigration and Customs Enforcement to its patrolling efforts. The president vowed on Thursday to have the federal law enforcement stay in D.C. for a while, and suggested that he will ask Congress for funding to spruce up the city. 'We're going back to Congress for some money and we're going to redo a lot of the pavement, a lot of the medians, a lot of the graffiti is going to come down,' he said. 'We're going to the go on to other places. We're going to stay here for a while,' the president added. He brought with him on the visit hamburgers, prepared by the White House and in blue bags, and pizzas, from local restaurant Wiseguys in dozens of pizza boxes. Noem and Pirro were spotted handing them out to officers while Trump chatted with members of the group before leaving after 45 minutes. As of Wednesday night, over 2,000 federal agents participated in law enforcement efforts in D.C. While Trump's motorcade drove through the streets of D.C. to and from the White House, The Hill, as part of the White House press pool Thursday, spotted crowds of people gathered, National Guard troops saluted and some on the street gave the motorcade a thumbs down or yelled 'free D.C.' At the facility, federal law enforcement appeared excited for the president's arrival and took photographs of him when he arrived. Bondi said that many have been asking her when they would get to meet Trump. 'I'm getting to know everyone on a first name basis,' Bondi said. 'They're out here working midnights every night.' A survey from The Washington Post this week found 69 percent of D.C. residents said they 'strongly' oppose the president's decision to take federal control over the Metropolitan Police Department, and 10 percent said they 'somewhat' oppose the move. Another 9 percent said they 'strongly' approve of the Trump administration's federalization of local police.
The Hill
23 minutes ago
- The Hill
Trump admin pausing issuance of visas for foreign truck drivers, Rubio says
President Trump's administration is pausing all issuance of worker visas for foreign truck drivers, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday, arguing the growing number of international, commercial operators is putting the lives of Americans in danger. 'Effective immediately we are pausing all issuance of worker visas for commercial truck drivers. The increasing number of foreign drivers operating large tractor-trailer trucks on U.S. roads is endangering American lives and undercutting the livelihoods of American truckers,' Rubio said in a Thursday post on social platform X. Rubio's announcement comes days after Harjinder Singh, a truck driver, was accused of making an illegal U-turn that killed people around 50 miles north of West Palm Beach. The Department of Homeland Security said this week that Singh, who was arrested for three counts of vehicular homicide, was in the U.S. illegally. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said on Tuesday that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration launched an investigation into the deadly Florida highway crash. Trump penned an executive order in late April requiring all commercial truck drivers operating in the U.S. to be proficient in English. The president designated English as the country's official language in an executive order in March. 'They should be able to read and understand traffic signs, communicate with traffic safety, border patrol, agricultural checkpoints, and cargo weight-limit station officers,' the White House said in the order at the time. 'Drivers need to provide feedback to their employers and customers and receive related directions in English.' Foreign truckers in the U.S. are usually working on H-2B visas. On Thursday, the State Department confirmed that it is vetting over 55 million U.S. visa holders for possible deportable infractions, including criminal activity, visa overstays and engagement in any form of terrorist activity.' The State Department said last week that it would pause all visas for visitors from the Gaza Strip as it conducts a 'full and thorough review of the process and procedures used to issue a small number of temporary medical-humanitarian visas in recent days.'
San Francisco Chronicle
23 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Defamation case against Fox News highlights role of its hosts in promoting 2020 election falsehoods
NEW YORK (AP) — Court papers in a voting technology company's $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News point to Maria Bartiromo, Lou Dobbs and Jeanine Pirro as leaders in spreading false stories about election fraud in the weeks after Democrat Joe Biden's victory over President Donald Trump in 2020. Arguments for summary judgment by Smartmatic were filed in lightly redacted form this week at the New York Supreme Court. It's like a bad rerun for Fox: Similar revelations about its conduct following the 2020 election came in a lawsuit by another company falsely accused of doctoring votes, Dominion Voting Systems. Fox agreed to pay Dominion $787 million in a 2023 settlement after the judge found it was 'CRYSTAL CLEAR' that none of the claims against the voting system company were true. In short: Fox let Trump aides spread conspiracy theories despite knowing they were false because it was what their viewers wanted to hear. Fox was trying to hold on to viewers who were angry at the network for saying Biden had won the election. Fox said it was covering a newsworthy story. It accuses the London-based company, which had only Los Angeles County as a client for the 2020 election, of exaggerating its claims of damages in the hope of receiving a financial windfall. Pirro now working in the second Trump administration The focus on Pirro is noteworthy because the former Fox personality now serves in Trump's second administration as U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C. Smartmatic, relying on emails and text messages revealed as part of the case, said Pirro was using her position as a Fox host in 2020 to help Trump and persuade him to pardon her ex-husband, Albert Pirro, who was convicted of conspiracy and tax evasion. Trump pardoned him before leaving office in 2021. In a text to then-Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel in September 2020, Pirro said, 'I'm the No. 1 watched show on news cable all weekend. I work so hard for the President and the party,' Smartmatic said in court papers. One of her own producers, Jerry Andrews, called Pirro a 'reckless maniac,' Smartmatic said. He texted after one of her shows in November that it was 'rife (with) conspiracy theories and bs and is yet another example of why this woman should never be on live television." The court papers said Pirro also suggested 'evidence' of supposed fraud to Trump lawyer Sidney Powell that she could use on a television appearance — material that also was spread by Bartiromo. Bartiromo still works at Fox, and in 2020 had shows on both the news channel and Fox Business Network. The court papers uncovered messages showing her desire to help Trump: 'I am very worried. Please please please overturn this. Bring the evidence, I know you can,' she texted to Powell. Dobbs, whose business show was canceled by Fox in February 2021, texted to Powell four days after the election, saying 'I'm going to do what I can to help stop what is now a coup d'etat in (its) final days — perhaps moments," a reference to Biden's victory. Dobbs died in 2024. A central figure in Fox's 'pivot' Smartmatic portrayed Pirro as a central figure in Fox's 'pivot' to deemphasize Biden's victory because it angered Trump fans. Instead, the network found that ratings jumped whenever claims of election fraud were discussed, it said. As in the Dominion case, the discovery process helped Smartmatic find messages and statements that seem embarrassing in retrospect. For example, in early December, Fox's Jesse Watters texted colleague Greg Gutfeld that 'Think of how incredible our ratings would be if Fox went ALL in on STOP THE STEAL.' Fox, in a response to the newly-revealed court papers, pointed to an ongoing corruption case involving Smartmatic and its executives, including a claim by federal prosecutors that it used money from the sale of voting machines to set up a 'slush fund' for bribing foreign officials. 'The evidence shows that Smartmatic's business and reputation were badly suffering long before any claims by President Trump's lawyers on Fox News and that Smartmatic grossly inflated its damage claims to generate headlines and chill free speech,' Fox said. 'Now, in the aftermath of Smartmatic's executives getting indicted for bribery charges, we are eager and ready to continue defending our press freedoms.' ___
