Florida will convert all 23 agricultural interdiction stations that inspect commercial trucks into immigration checkpoints, state Attorney General James Uthmeier announced on Monday. Officers will question drivers about immigration status and English proficiency under President Donald Trump’s executive order, with non-compliant operators referred to federal authorities. Nearly 300 officers from the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services have been trained to enforce immigration laws through the federal 287(g) program, and a new inspection site is planned near the Alabama border. The policy follows an Aug. 12 crash on Florida’s Turnpike that killed three motorists. Prosecutors say Harjinder Singh, a 28-year-old Indian national who entered the United States illegally in 2018, made an illegal U-turn with a tractor-trailer after twice failing an English proficiency test for commercial drivers. Singh, who held commercial licenses from California and Washington, faces three counts of vehicular homicide and immigration violations after being extradited from California to Florida. Uthmeier said Florida is asking the U.S. Department of Transportation to audit and potentially decertify the commercial-driver licensing programs in California and Washington, arguing they improperly issued credentials to undocumented immigrants. Secretary of State Marco Rubio separately suspended the issuance of new visas for foreign commercial drivers. Industry groups have not yet quantified how the expanded checkpoints will affect freight movements, but some truckers warned of longer delays, while others backed the measures as a safety step. Civil-rights advocates said the changes risk racial profiling and could disrupt supply chains across the Southeast.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced Monday that all trucking weigh stations along major highways will now function as immigration checkpoints. https://t.co/yoxGSmIV9P
Florida is ramping up illegal immigration enforcement with probes of sanctuary jurisdictions after an illegal immigrant truck driver allegedly caused a crash that killed three people. https://t.co/HrzHiQyuxa
The state will begin checking immigration status of commercial truck drivers at highway weigh stations. https://t.co/am56GE33Cn