Illegal immigrant truck driver accused in deadly Florida crash got Biden work permit after Trump denial: DHS
The illegal immigrant truck driver accused of causing a crash that killed three people in Florida was given a work permit under the Biden administration, officials said Monday.
Harjinder Singh, who was arrested on Saturday in Stockton, California, on three counts of vehicle homicide, entered the United States illegally and his work authorization was rejected under the Trump administration on Sept. 14, 2020, said Tricia McLaughlin, the Homeland Security assistant secretary for public affairs.
McLaughlin noted Singh's work approval in response to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who said the first Trump administration "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 press office wrote on X.
McLaughlin noted that the federal government doesn't issue commercial driver's licenses.
"False. Harjinder Singh is in the United States illegally and his work authorization was rejected under the Trump Administration on September 14, 2020," she wrote. "It was later approved under the Biden Administration June 9, 2021. The state of California issues Commercial Drivers Licenses. There is no national CDL. Sincerely, Genius."
Singh, who officials believe crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in 2018, obtained his commercial driver’s license in California despite his illegal status in the U.S.
He remains in custody on both state vehicular homicide charges as well as immigration violations.
Singh was driving a commercial truck with a trailer on the Florida Turnpike in Fort Pierce when he allegedly attempted a U-turn in an unauthorized area. The move resulted in the trailer jackknifing and colliding with a minivan — leaving all three of the minivan's passengers dead, according to officials.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the three deaths could have been avoided if California had followed federal immigration laws.
"3 innocent people were killed in Florida because Gavin Newsom’s California DMV issued an illegal alien a Commercial Driver’s License," she wrote Monday on X. "This gut wrenching tragedy should have never happened. My team at @DHSgov will work with @USDOT to root out and prevent illegal aliens from obtaining these licenses from sanctuary jurisdictions that put American drivers and passengers in danger."