Federal immigration authorities announced on Thursday that they have issued an arrest warrant for an Indian man suspected of driving a semi-truck under the influence of drugs in California, resulting in the deaths of three people.
The day after the accident, ABC7 television station released the dashcam footage of the vehicle involved in the crash. The video shows a commercial truck on October 21 on the 10 Freeway in Southern California, initially rear-ending a small car, then hitting multiple vehicles and another semi-truck, before veering off the road and colliding with a semi-trailer and a maintenance vehicle on the shoulder.
According to a statement from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the accident resulted in the immediate deaths of three people, with several others injured.
ICE issued an immigration detention order for Jashanpreet Singh, a 21-year-old Indian national, labeling him as an “illegal immigrant felon from India.”
According to the prisoner registration records from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office, Singh was arrested at the accident site by the California Highway Patrol. As of the 23rd, Singh remains detained on charges including driving under the influence causing bodily injury and felony DUI (drug-related death). Pursuant to the immigration detention order, law enforcement must transfer him to federal authorities before his release.
Federal authorities state that Singh is a resident of Yuba City, California, and is suspected of illegally entering the U.S. through the southern border in 2022 and being released into the country under the Biden administration’s policies.
Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security, Tricia McLaughlin, commented, stating, “This is a terrible tragedy where three innocent lives were lost due to open border policies allowing illegal immigrants to enter the U.S. and even operate 18-wheelers on American roads.”
The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) has not yet responded to media inquiries, leaving it unclear whether Singh possessed a California driver’s license or a commercial driver’s license.
This accident is one of several recent fatal crashes caused by illegal immigrants driving commercial trucks. McLaughlin highlighted, “This accident continues a concerning trend – illegal immigrants driving 18-wheelers and semi-trailers on U.S. roads.”
Earlier this week, ICE issued a detention order for an illegal immigrant who drove a semi-truck in Indiana and fatally struck a driver. Immigration authorities reported that a person from Serbia and Montenegro, Borko Stankovic, drove a commercial truck without a valid license, suddenly veered off the road and collided with a Subaru Crosstrek, resulting in the death of the other driver.
In August of this year, another illegal immigrant from India, Harjinder Singh, was arrested in California after causing an accident that killed three people while driving a semi-truck in Florida. The suspect pleaded not guilty to three counts of vehicular manslaughter.
In September, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol arrested 91 illegal immigrants driving 18-wheelers on the state’s highways. According to Department of Homeland Security data, during a four-day operation, a total of 120 illegal immigrants were apprehended, with 91 individuals illegally operating commercial vehicles, 44 of whom possessed California-issued driver’s licenses.