Illegal Alien Truck Driver Cannot Speak or Read English
How did we get here and what is being done about it?
On August 12, 2025, an illegal alien, Harjinder Singh, who obtained a Commercial Driver’s License from the State of California, killed three people by blocking the highway while making an illegal U turn in Florida. During an interview with investigators from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration on August 14, 2025, Singh demonstrated a lack of understanding of the English Language and was only able to correctly answer 2 of 12 verbal questions and accurately identify 1 of 4 highway signs. How did Harjinder Singh get in the USA? How did he get a Commercial Driver’s License? Are there more truckers like him? The answers will shock you.
The Illegal Alien Entered the USA in 2018
According to media reports and government statements, Harjinder Singh entered the United States illegally on September 18, 2018. He was arrested and processed for expedited removal by the first Trump Administration. Singh, however, asserted an asylum claim contending he feared returning to India. He was released by an immigration judge on a $5,000.00 bond in January 2019. Newsweek summarized Singh’s entry, capture and release as follows:
Six years later, Singh is not only still in the USA, he had a Commercial Driver’s License and operated an 80,000 pound tractor-trailer rig. How did it happen?
Singh Gets a Work Permit from the Biden Administration, then CDLs from Sanctuary States
Singh applied for a work permit under the first Trump Administration, but the request was denied. In June 2021, the Biden Administration granted Singh a work authorization. Shortly thereafer, on July 15, 2023, Singh obtained an unrestricted Commercial Driver’s License from the State of Washington. (Washington State officials are reportedly investigating how this CDL was issued to Singh, since issuing such a license to an asylum seeker is illegal.) Thereafter, on July 23, 2024, Singh obtained a CDL from the State of California.
Attorney William Shipley wrote an informative article outlining the hair-brained regulatory scheme the State of California uses to facilitate providing Commercial Driver’s Licenses to illegal aliens. This article is worth a read. The bottom line is the fouled up rules and regulations in California allowed Singh to get a CDL.
The FMCSA investigation into the case confirms the following relevant facts about Singh and his CDLs:
(According to Washington State officials, Singh’s Washington CDL was valid only through July 2024, when Singh obtained his California CDL. Federal regulations only allow a person to have one Commercial Driver's License.)
Fundamental Failure to Enforce Federal Regulations
Federal Regulations expressly state a “person shall not drive a commercial motor vehicle" unless he or she is qualified to drive one. Under 49 CFR 391.11(b)(2), a person is qualified to drive a motor vehicle if he or she:
Yet, in the post-accident investigation of the fatal crash involving Harjinder Singh, Federal officials determined Singh could not speak, read or understand English when they administered the English Language Proficiency test:
Singh’s inability to speak English is readily apparent at his court appearance on the criminal charges in Florida on August 23, 2025. An interpreter was present and had to interpret statements as simple as “please state your full name for the record.” Watch the video for yourself. The judge found Singh is an “unauthorized alien” and denied him bond as a “flight risk:”
If Federal regulations require CDL holders to read and speak English proficiently, how then, could this non-English speaking driver get his CDL when he does not read, speak or understand English? We all have former President Obama to thank for that.
The Obama Administration Effectively Suspended the English Proficiency Requirement
In 2014, the Obama Administration began the process of reclassifying the English proficiency rule changing a violation from one that puts a driver out of service (or off the road) to one that results only in a citation. As Freight Waves reported in April 2025:
The Obama Administration’s actual policy was named English Language Proficiency Testing and Enforcement Policy with an effective date of June 15, 2016, and provided, in part:
The Obama Administration essentially gutted the English proficiency requirement for truckers by (1) ending driver interviews for English Language Proficiency (ELP), (2) making violations subject only to a citation and (3) NOT requiring the truckers to be put out of service (taken off the road) if they cannot read and speak English.
If you are wondering how dangerous non-English speaking truck drivers are, a recent study of Federal crash data shows commercial drivers with English language violations are involved in truck crashes at nearly twice the national average, at rates higher than those associated with speeding or drug and alcohol violations. Furthermore, in one survey truck drivers estimated 25% of truckers do not speak or read English. The problem is real.
What is the Trump Administration Doing about the Problem?
On April 28, 2025, President Trump signed an Executive Order restoring English Proficiency for Truckers:
President Trump’s Executive Order states, in part:
President Trump ordered the Secretary of Transportation to rescind the Obama Administration’s ill-advised policy gutting English Language Proficiency for truckers and to replace that guidance with one enforcing the law.
On May 20, 2025, US DOT Sec. Sean Duffy signed an order replacing the Obama policy with one requiring truckers who cannot read and speak English proficiently to be placed out of service. The new policy went into effect on June 25, 2025, and requires FMCSA personnel to initiate all roadside investigations in English:
If the driver is cited for violating the English Proficiency requirement, the new policy requires the driver be “immediately” placed out-of-service:
The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, an influential nonprofit organization of local, state, provincial, territorial and federal commercial motor vehicle safety officials also voted to put truckers with limited English out of service in May 2025. (The support of the CVSA is important to obtain nationwide compliance and enforcement.)
The new rule reportedly resulted in 1,500 non-English speaking truck drivers being taken off the road in the first 30 days.
The Remedy Came Too Late for the Folks in Florida
The Trump Administration is working to correct this disastrous Obama-era policy, but, ramping up the enforcement will take time. Furthermore, the question remains whether or not so-called sanctuary jurisdictions will enforce the English proficiency requirement at all. Readers will note, Singh received a speeding ticket on July 3, 2025 in New Mexico, AFTER the Trump Administration resumed enforcing the English Proficiency Requirement on June 25, 2025, however, New Mexico is yet to enforce the new rule and may not enforce it at all since the New Mexico Democrat Governor opposes the Trump Administration's immigration policies. (Had New Mexico enforced the new rule and taken Singh out of service, the three victims in Florida would be alive today.)
Conclusion
Once again, the policies of the far left prove dangerous to the American public. In this instance, the Obama Administration gutted the English Language Proficiency requirement for truck drivers, while the Biden Administration granted a work authorization to an illegal alien and two leftist sanctuary jurisdictions gave the illegal Commercial Driver’s Licenses.
When the truth came out about California giving Singh a Commercial Driver’s License, California Governor Gavin Newsome did what he always does: He lied about it. Newsome’s press office lied and claimed the trucker was arrested by California law enforcement, when he was taken into custody by U.S. Marshals. Newsome also blamed the Trump Administration for the illegal having a work authorization, when the Biden Administration issued the work authorization to Singh. With people like California Governor Gavin Newsome in positions of authority, it will probably be a long time before this problem is corrected. Nevertheless, once again, the Trump Administration is working to fix the problem and save American lives.
(My latest book Fake News Exposed: 25 of the Worst Media Lies about Conservatives, Guns, COVID and Everything Else is available at Amazon. You may also pick up a copy of one of my other books at Amazon as well.)