A Florida judge has ordered Harjinder Singh, a 28-year-old Indian national accused of entering the United States illegally, held without bond on three counts of vehicular homicide stemming from an 12 Aug. crash on Florida’s Turnpike near Fort Pierce. Investigators say Singh attempted an unauthorized U-turn with his semi-trailer, leading to a collision that killed Herby Dufresne, 30, Rodrigue Dor, 54, and Faniloa Joseph, 37. Singh, who crossed the southern border in 2018 and later obtained commercial driver’s licenses in California and Washington, was arrested in California and extradited to Florida; Immigration and Customs Enforcement has also detained his brother, Harneet Singh, who was in the truck at the time of the wreck. In a related move, the Trump administration and Florida regulators revoked the business license of the California-based carrier that employed Singh, citing its hiring of a driver who failed basic English-proficiency and road-sign recognition tests. The enforcement action adds to tensions between Florida officials and California Governor Gavin Newsom, whose administration says the driver’s federal work permit made him eligible for the license. Florida is now expanding immigration enforcement on its highways. At a 25 Aug. news conference, Attorney General James Uthmeier said all 23 state agricultural weigh stations will screen commercial drivers’ immigration status and turn over undocumented operators to federal agents. Uthmeier also urged the U.S. Department of Transportation to audit and potentially decertify the commercial-license programs in California and Washington. Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson said nearly 300 state officers have been trained under the federal 287(g) program to assist. Separately, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has suspended the issuance of new worker visas for foreign truckers, a category that has received roughly 1,500 H-2B visas so far this fiscal year.
Florida officials said they would begin to intercept undocumented immigrants with driver's licenses from other states at these inspection sites. https://t.co/OIMQih6G3y
No bond, new charges for immigrant truck driver in fatal Florida Turnpike crash https://t.co/jcvdjrMqMB
Lt Gov Jay Collins: No Leniency For Illegal Alien Trucker Who Allegedly Killed Three "Absolutely not. It's beyond infuriating. He illegally entered in 2018. He put people's lives at risk, doesn't understand the language, doesn't understand the signs. And we think because of his https://t.co/Ii7YpdFj2C