DHS, Duffy rip sentence for illegal immigrant truck driver who killed 3, sworn action

Trump administration and environmental officials have blasted the outcome of the conviction of an illegal immigrant truck driver who killed three people in a fiery California truck crash, after being sentenced to less than five years in prison.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who called the sentence a “slap on the wrist,” said his agency will not stop “until ALL illegal truckers are fired and held accountable,” and the Department of Homeland Security says immigration officials are standing by to arrest the trucker “when he is released, so he is never allowed back on our roads.”

Jashanpreet Singh, a 21-year-old Indian national who federal authorities said was in the United States illegally, was sentenced Tuesday to four years and eight months in prison after pleading guilty to three counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence stemming from an October 2025 crash on Interstate 10 in San Bernardino County, California. Singh’s semitruck plowed into pedestrians, killing three people and injuring many others, and the dashcam video showed him not even applying the brakes before the impact.

HIGH SCHOOL COACH, WOMAN IDENTIFIED AS CHIEFS KILLED IN ILLEGAL TRUCK ACCIDENT INTRODUCED BY BIDEN ADMIN.

“This is an inadequate punishment for a foreigner, in our country, illegally, who killed three people with a truck,” said Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah.

“Despite the death of 3 people in a horrific eight-car crash, immigrant criminal Jashanpreet Singh was sentenced to SLAP ON THE WRIST to less than 5 years in a California sanctuary,” DHS said following news of Singh’s sentencing. “Illegal aliens like this murderer should NOT be allowed to walk or enter our nation’s streets. ICE stands ready to arrest Singh upon his release so he is never allowed back on our streets to take another innocent life.”

“Five years is a slap on the wrist for KILLING 3 AMERICANS,” added the Transportation Secretary. “If California followed the rules, illegal aliens like Jashanpreet Singh wouldn’t be driving 80,000 pound missiles on our roads. We will not stop until ALL illegal truckers are put out of business and held accountable.”

Singh crossed the southern border in the El Centro Sector of California in March 2022 and was released into the US under the Biden administration pending an immigration hearing, according to federal sources. He later received a California driver’s license in June 2025, according to the Department of Transportation.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION TRUCKS LEFT AMERICAS ANGRY ABOUT LOOPHOLES THAT PUT UP DEADLY ROADS

Transport Secretary Sean Duffy has warned that widespread fraud is allowing illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licences, which he said poses a security risk. (Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Federal officials had previously warned California about compliance issues involving commercial driver’s licenses and ordered the state to freeze new licenses for non-residents and review existing licenses to make sure they comply with federal requirements. Fox News Digital previously reported that Singh should have been released under the DOT’s emergency policy, and California officials said his eligibility was based on state-approved employment documents.

Meanwhile, during the April debate between the candidates for the governorship of California, several of those running as Democrats said they would fight the Trump administration’s push for California police to begin issuing English language tests for big rig drivers in the state because of racism.

“Racial profiling is illegal. And, in fact, singling out people based on the color of their skin in the state of California, it’s illegal,” the Democrat megadonor and billionaire businessman. Tom Steyer he said when asked if he would support a policy forcing police to give language tests to truck drivers on the side of the road.

The CHP confirmed that one person was killed and 32 were hospitalized after an early Mother’s Day crash involving a tour bus on the 60 Freeway. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson, File)

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS PROGRAM

“Does that policeman ask everyone he pulls over to explain those road signs? Or, does he only ask people like me? If he does that, then he is breaking the law. the law,” former Health and Human Services Secretary Biden said, Xavier Beccera, blasting a police officer in a short local news clip played by debate moderators that showed a police officer administering a test to determine if a Spanish-speaking commercial driver could understand traffic signs.

But then-California Republican Sheriff Chad Bianco, who was forced to resign after failing to qualify for the general election in June’s nonpartisan election, criticized his Democratic opponents for pulling the race card.

“Let’s stop with all this racism, and racism and all this garbage. We have to get past this. Either you broke the law or you didn’t. That’s the end of the story,” Bianco said. “The consequences of bad behavior.”