White House confirms California gave CDL to illegal immigrant DUI suspect

White Home Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt informed reporters Thursday that California has issued a business driver’s license (CDL) to an unlawful immigrant truck driver charged in a deadly DUI crash that killed three folks.

“I can verify that California has licensed this particular person, and it’s one thing that the Division of Transportation has already seemed into,” Leavitt mentioned. “I do know that Minister Duffy, who’s doing an exceptional job, has spoken about this many occasions through the crackdown on the Division of Transportation over these permits which can be wrongly being issued to individuals who clearly do not deserve to carry these positions.”

Leavitt mentioned the individual first entered the U.S. illegally in 2022 “and was launched into our nation by the earlier administration.”

She added that the Division of Transportation (DOT) is cracking down on the issuance of CDLs amid a “troubling sample” of them being given to unlawful immigrants.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT TRUCKER CHARGED IN DEADLY CRASH IN CALIFORNIA, RELEASED BY BIDEN ADMIN AFTER BORDER CROSSING IN 2022

Reporters increase their arms to ask a query as White Home Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks throughout a press convention on the White Home on Thursday, October 23, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Evan Vucci/AP Picture)

Jashanpreet Singh, a 21-year-old unlawful immigrant from India, was accused of driving beneath the affect and inflicting an accident that killed three folks. He has since been arrested on suspicion of gross vehicular manslaughter whereas intoxicated after allegedly plowing his large rig into slow-moving visitors on the I-10 Freeway in San Bernardino County.

A number of federal regulation enforcement sources informed Fox Information that Singh was first encountered by Border Patrol brokers in California’s El Centro sector in March 2022 and launched into the nation’s inside pending an immigration listening to.

Police say Singh by no means hit the brakes earlier than getting caught in visitors, citing toxicology assessments that confirmed the impairment.

Jashanpreet Singh, an unlawful immigrant from India, was arrested on October 21, 2025 in reference to a deadly accident on the I-10 freeway in San Bernardino County, California. (Invoice Melugin/by way of X,ICE)

“It is a tragic state of affairs,” a spokeswoman for Governor Gavin Newsom informed Fox Information Digital. “And as with each tragedy over the previous ten months, Minister Noem has tasked Minister Duffy with in search of each alternative to govern the info to attain low cost political factors, however the FEDERAL authorities should look inward earlier than casting blame exterior.”

“The FEDERAL authorities has permitted and renewed this particular person’s FEDERAL employment authorization a number of occasions – permitting him to acquire a business driver’s license in accordance with FEDERAL regulation,” she added.

The Biden administration permitted Singh’s work allow. Unlawful immigrants can apply for a piece allow 180 days after submitting their asylum software. Singh was arrested on the border in March 2022 and launched. Since then he has been in an asylum process. Moreover, to acquire a piece allow, California wouldn’t require a person to subject a CDL, nor would it not entitle a person to take action.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT TRUCKER ACCUSED OF KILLING THREE PEOPLE FAILED ENGLISH, ROAD TEST SIGNS: DOT

The incident comes simply months after an identical deadly accident involving an unlawful truck driver.

On August 12, Harjinder Singh allegedly made an unlawful U-turn in an unauthorized space on the Florida Turnpike, colliding with a minivan and killing three folks. He was arrested in California, the place he fled after the deadly crash, and was extradited to Florida.

Singh illegally entered the U.S. by way of the southern border in 2018 and was in a position to acquire a CDL in California. The primary Trump administration denied his request for work authorization in September 2020, Division of Homeland Safety (DHS) Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin mentioned.

A composite picture exhibits firefighters responding to a deadly crash in Florida linked to Harjinder Singh’s truck and physique digital camera of Singh being cited for rushing in New Mexico on July 3, 2025. (St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Workplace; New Mexico State Police)

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

On October 15, Transport Minister Sean Duffy introduced that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) would withhold greater than $40 million from California after an investigation discovered the state was not assembly English proficiency requirements.

In response to a video of the incident, Duffy said“That is precisely why USDOT has withheld $40 MILLION {dollars} from California for failing to implement our guidelines to guard drivers. We can’t permit our roads to be a harmful place!”

Fox Information Digital reached out to DOT for remark.