Earlier, we reported on recent revelations regarding how Harjinder Singh, the illegal immigrant truck driver at the center of a deadly August crash on the Florida Turnpike that killed three people, failed his CDL test 10 times in two months in Washington state back in 2023.
Singh, as RedState readers will recall, obtained CDLs in both Washington and California after crossing the border illegally from Mexico back in 2018, the Florida Department of Highway Safety detailed in August, despite Singh also being unable to speak English proficiently.
Relatedly, after the fatal crash this week in SoCal that killed three, hospitalized two more, and which involved another illegal immigrant truck driver, California Gov. Gavin Newsom's office acknowledged the state had also issued the driver, Jashanpreet Singh, a CDL. Jashanpreet Singh reportedly was "caught and released" after illegally crossing the border into the Golden State in 2022.
In another update to this story, Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has dropped what he calls a "bombshell report" that carefully outlines the multiple California failures, including recent ones, that preceded the SoCal freeway crash. Duffy directly called out Newsom for actions he and his state have taken that have made residents there unsafe on roads and highways:
.@CAGovernor how many lives have to be lost before you start enforcing @USDOT’s rules on licensing truck drivers?
— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) October 24, 2025
Our new bombshell report lays out the facts. ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/DYqY2pHpTF
The report noted that 20-year-old Jashanpreet Singh was issued "a restricted, non-domiciled CDL" in late June by California. The CDL included a "K restriction," which limited "the driver to intrastate (in-state) operation."
The report continued:
- September 26, 2025: Secretary Duffy formally notifies California of "significant compliance failures" after an audit revealed one in four non-domiciled CDLs sampled were issued improperly. California was required to:
- Pause issuance of non-domiciled CDLs
- Identify all unexpired non-domiciled CDLs that fail to comply with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) regulations
- Revoke and reissue all noncompliant non-domiciled CDLs if they comply with the new federal requirements
- September 26, 2025: FMCSA issues an emergency rule to significantly strengthen standards for the issuance of non-domiciled CDLs.
- Under the emergency rule, non-citizens are not eligible for a non-domiciled CDL unless they meet a much stricter set of rules, including possessing an employment-based visa and undergoing a mandatory federal immigration status check using the SAVE system
- Specifically, the new rule prevents all asylum seekers from obtaining non-domiciled CDLs
- States are now required to apply the stricter standards to all issuances, renewals, transfers, or upgrades of a non-domiciled CDL
- October 15, 2025: Singh turns 21. California's Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) removes the "K restriction" and upgrades Singh’s driving privileges.
- This removal was an "upgrade" under federal regulations. However, California processed the upgrade to Singh’s non-domiciled CDL without applying the stricter standards as required by the emergency rule.
- October 21, 2025: Singh was operating a semi-truck under the influence of drugs on a California freeway when he struck a queue of stopped vehicles and fatally injured three people.
"If California had complied with the Secretary’s emergency rule and prevented the upgrade of Singh's driving privileges, Singh would have been required to return to the DMV (on or after October 15) to have the 'K' restriction removed and upgrade his CDL," it read, while adding that "At that time, Singh would have been subject to the emergency rule and found ineligible to retain the non-domiciled CDL due to Singh’s status as an asylum seeker."
"Gavin Newsom was explicitly warned California’s CDL program was dangerously broken," the report concluded. "The USDOT’s emergency rule was issued to explicitly prevent drivers like Singh from getting behind the wheel of commercial motor vehicles."
Thursday night, during a Fox News interview, Duffy told host Sean Hannity that millions more in federal funding were on the line for California as long as California didn't comply with the DOT's new rules, and said it was up to the Trump administration to make the state safe again for drivers since Newsom refused to:
I’ve already withheld $40 MILLION from California for not enforcing our English language requirements.
— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) October 24, 2025
There’s another $160 MILLION on the line if California doesn’t immediately comply with @USDOT’s rules.
We have to use every tool in the toolbox to protect the American people… pic.twitter.com/GF3RVkJIcY
"When is California going to revolt and demand accountability from its leaders?" Duffy asked during the segment.
Fortunately, many in the state are revolting. There just needs to be a whole lot more people who join the movement to save California before it's too late.
Editor’s Note: The Schumer Shutdown is here. Rather than put the American people first, Chuck Schumer and the radical Democrats forced a government shutdown for healthcare for illegals. They own this.
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