Semi-truck driver arrested in deadly crash on Southern California freeway was in U.S. illegally, DHS says

A semi-truck driver who was arrested for driving under the influence following a deadly crash on the 10 Freeway in Ontario on Tuesday is in the United States illegally, according to officials with the Department of Homeland Security. 

They told CBS News that 21-year-old Jashanpreet Singh is an Indian national who entered the country by crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in 2022. He is a resident of Yuba City, California, which is located in Sutter County, about 120 miles northeast of San Francisco. 

Singh was arrested on Tuesday by California Highway Patrol officers in connection with an eight-vehicle collision that included four commercial vehicles. The crash left three people dead and four others hospitalized in varying conditions. All of the victims were adults, Ontario Fire Department crews said. 

San Bernardino County jail records show that Singh remains detained on Wednesday night at the West Valley Detention Center in San Bernardino in lieu of $250,000 bail. He has been charged with driving under the influence of drugs causing bodily injury and gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated. He’s expected in court on Thursday at the Rancho Superior Court in Rancho Cucamonga. 

It’s unclear if Singh currently has legal representation. CHP officers told CBS LA that they were investigating if Singh was driving with a valid commercial driver’s license at the time of the crash.

In August, the U.S. government stopped issuing worker visas for commercial truck drivers. At the time, a State Department spokesperson said that the pause was put in place “in order to conduct a comprehensive and thorough review of screening and vetting protocols used to determine the qualifications for a U.S. visa.”

“As we have seen with recent deadly accidents, foreign truckers can pose risks to American lives, U.S. national security, and foreign policy interests,” the State Department spokesperson said. “Ensuring that every driver on our roads meets the highest standards is important to protecting the livelihoods of American truckers and maintaining a secure, resilient supply chain.”

California and Washington were sued by Florida last week for a crash that happened in August that left three people dead after the driver of a semi-truck attempted to perform an illegal U-turn on the Florida Turnpike in St. Lucie County. The driver in that crash, Harjinder Singh, also entered the U.S. illegally and obtained a commercial driver’s license from California, U.S. Marshals told CBS News Miami in September.

The lawsuit alleges that both states have failed to comply with federal safety and immigration-status requirements when issuing commercial driver’s licenses. The suit says that California and Washington “chose to ignore these standards and authorize illegal immigrants without proper training or the ability to read road signs to drive commercial motor vehicles.”