The Indian illegal-alien trucker who made an illegal U-turn on a highway and killed three Americans in Florida could not speak or read English, but the California and Washington state motor vehicle agencies gave him commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) anyway.
The latest on Harjinder Singh from the U.S. Transportation Department follows the revelation that the Biden administration gave the beturbaned illiterate a work permit.
The disclosure raises the disturbing fact that hundreds if not thousands of Indians and other illegals who cannot read English are almost certainly hurtling down American highways, unable to read signs like the one that Singh ignored.
On August 14, Singh illegally made a U-turn in his 18-wheeler from the right northbound lane on the Florida Turnpike near Fort Pierce. There was a sign telling motorists that U-turns are allowed for “official use only.”
Video shows a Chrysler minivan plowing into the trailer. Two passengers were killed instantly, and the driver died later at the hospital. Singh walked away without a scratch.
Fox News revealed details about the illegal alien’s presence in the country. He jumped the border in 2018 and received a deportation order. He claimed fear of returning home, which U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services validated. That permitted him to stay here.
The Biden administration issued a work permit.
And now, the Transportation Department’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has disclosed not only that Singh couldn’t speak or read English, but also that two states gave him CDLs.
Aside from reviewing video of the wreck, FMCSA “investigators administered an English Language Proficiency (ELP) assessment in accordance with FMCSA guidance, the department revealed:
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.
So on those two tests, Singh scored 16.7 percent and 25 percent.
Worse still, two states run by far-left Democratic governors and legislatures gave the border jumper CDLs. A third state, New Mexico, fouled up as well, the department revealed:
On July 15th, 2023, Washington State issued the driver a regular full-term Commercial Driver’s License (CDL).
Asylum seekers or individuals without legal status are NOT eligible for this type of license. [Emphasis added.]
On July 23, 2024, California issued the driver a limited-term/non-domiciled CDL.
FMCSA is investigating the issuance of this license to determine whether it was issued in accordance with Federal regulations.
On July 3, 2025, the New Mexico State Police conducted a roadside inspection of the driver and issued a speeding ticket, but there is no indication that an ELP assessment was administered.
New Mexico has not yet begun enforcing ELP as an out-of-service condition, despite the requirement being in effect since June 25, 2025. [Emphasis added.]
The governor of California is, of course, probable Democratic presidential candidate Gavin Newsom, who attempted to blame the Trump administration for giving Singh a work permit. Tricia McLaughlin, spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, straightened him out on X.
Washington’s governor is leftist Bob Ferguson, who favors keeping illegal aliens in the country. Like Newsom, Ferguson received a letter from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi that threatened criminal prosecution for refusing to comply with federal immigration law. And like Newsom and Michelle Wu, mayor of Boston, Ferguson has said Washington will not comply.
The governor of New Mexico is far-left Democrat Michelle Lujan Grisham.
“If states had followed the rules, this driver would never have been behind the wheel and three precious lives would still be with us,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said:
This crash was a preventable tragedy directly caused by reckless decisions and compounded by despicable failures. Non-enforcement and radical immigration policies have turned the trucking industry into a lawless frontier, resulting in unqualified foreign drivers improperly acquiring licenses to operate 40-ton vehicles.
Newsom and Ferguson are not concerned.
One reason is that Newsom’s and Ferguson’s motor vehicle agencies allowed Singh to be on the road, driving a truck that can weigh up to 80,000 pounds fully loaded, despite not being able to read English signs.
Another reason appeared on a trucker’s blog, as The New American revealed yesterday, from a writer called Dune-T. After jumping the border and falsely claiming asylum, then receiving protection from deportation and, in Singh’s case, a work permit, the illegal goes to “a CDL school, that is run by people from your original country, who speak your language and who help you to pass the exam.”
So “after being in this country only for 3 months, [you can] get on the road without speaking English and without experience of this country[’s] road etiquette and rules,” the writer continued:
It’s especially messed up if you came from India or something like that where there is chaos on the roads and you have never seen snow in your life before.
It so happens that Indian illegals have the perfect place to get CDL training: the Punjab Truck Driving School. After “graduating” from that estimable academy, an Indian illegal can join the North American Punjabi Trucking Association. It is “the proud representative of the Punjabi trucking industry,” it brags on its website.
The association provides this notice in garbled English on its website:
We advocate the highest standards of service, conduct, safe, efficient and profitable trucking industry across all sectors and industry types, regardless of size, domicile or type of operation.
We are please to announce that we provide Commercial Driver Plan. On and off the road, we are here to provide access to legal help for Commercial Drivers.
Illegal-alien Singh will need that help. As it is, writing and reading English, apparently, is not a priority for the Punjabi truck driver.