Big Rig Driver Arrested in Deadly Southern California Crash
A big rig driver from Yuba city has been arrested and accused of causing an eight-vehicle crash that killed three peopel and injured four others on a Southern California freeway this week.The crash happened on Interstate 10 in Ontario on Tuesday when a big rig driver did not slow down, leading to a chain reaction crash involving four big rigs, two pick-up trucks and two cars, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Federal officials are speaking out about the case because the driver is believed to be in the country illegally. Jashanpreet Singh, 21, is being held in jail without bail on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and driving under the influence, according to a U.S.Department of Homeland Security news release. Immigration officials have lodged an arrest detainer. DHS said Singh first entered the country illegally through the southern border in 2022 and “was RELEASED into the country under the Biden management.”
“It is indeed a terrible tragedy three innocent people lost thier lives due to the reckless open border policies that allowed an illegal alien to be released into the U.S.and drive an 18-wheeler on America’s highways,” Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary of DHS, said in a statement. “This accident follows a disturbing trend of illegal aliens driving 18-wheelers and semi-trucks on America’s roads.”
That revelation prompted Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to restate earlier concerns about who should be able to obtain commercial driver’s licenses. duffy and President Donald Trump have been pressing the issue and criticizing California ever since a deadly Florida crash in August was caused by an immigrant truck driver from Stockton who the federal government says was in the country illegally.
The Transportation department considerably restricted when noncitizens can get commercial driver’s licenses last month.
The California State transportation Agency fired back against federal criticism and “misinformation,” insisting that the state does not determine commercial driver’s license eligibility.
“The FEDERAL government approves and renews all FEDERAL employment authorization documents that allows individuals to work and obtain commercial driver’s licenses,” the agency shared in a post on X.
The California Department of Motor Vehicles said Singh’s commercial driver’s license is a federal REAL ID, wich he received “given the federal government’s confirmation of his legal status.” Bhupinder Kaur, director of operations for UNITED SIKHS, said the New York-based humanitarian relief nonprofit is alarmed by what it sees as growing bias involving immigrant drivers.
It was not promptly clear Thursday afternoon if Jashanpreet Singh is Sikh.
“The discretion officials cite as ‘privacy’ elsewhere seems to vanish when the driver is an immigrant,” Kaur told the Associated Press in an email Thursday.
Immigrant truckers make up nearly one in five long-haul drivers, Kaur continued, adding that most are fully licensed and law-abiding.
“Yet they face unequal scrutiny and coverage,” Kaur said. “Selective transparency distorts public understanding and can even influence legal outcomes.”
Singh is scheduled for arraignment Friday. The district attorney’s office said he does not yet have a lawyer.
–The Associated Press’s Corey Williams and Luis Andres Henao and KCRA 3’s Lindsay Weber contributed to this report