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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested more than 100 illegal alien truck drivers on California highways in Operation Highway Sentinel, launched after a series of fatal crashes linked to commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) issued under Governor Gavin Newsom’s policies.
Federal authorities said the sweep was launched after multiple fatal crashes in several states involving illegal alien truck drivers with California licenses, underscoring growing concerns that the state’s business licensing policies are endangering motorists across the country.
Those arrested included illegal aliens from India, Mexico, Colombia, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Nicaragua, Russia, Georgia, Venezuela, El Salvador and Honduras.
“Gavin Newsom’s “Sanctuary state policies are costing American lives,” said Madison Sheahan, deputy director of ICE. “His government knowingly issued thousands of CDLs to illegal aliens who had no reason to drive, much less drive a huge tractor-trailer. These drivers get their licenses, leave California, then terrorize the roads across the country.”
ICE ARRESTS ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT TRUCKER FROM UZBEKISTAN FOR ALLEGED LINKS TO TERROR
ICE arrested more than 100 illegal alien truck drivers as part of Operation Highway Sentinel in California, following fatal crashes linked to state-issued CDLs. (Department of Homeland Security)
“ICE is stepping in where its state has failed,” Sheahan added. “Just like our operations in Oklahoma and Indiana, we are taking these dangerous illegal alien truckers off the roads and making California’s streets safe again.”
ICE said in a press release that Operation Highway Sentinel was launched in direct response to growing concerns that criminal illegal aliens operating commercial vehicles on U.S. roads are causing multiple fatal crashes in states like California, Florida and Oregon, claiming “eight innocent lives.”
ICE arrested more than 100 illegal alien truck drivers as part of Operation Highway Sentinel in California, following fatal crashes linked to state-issued CDLs. (Department of Homeland Security)
The agency accused California, under Newsom’s leadership, of issuing thousands of CDLs to illegal aliens, some of whom could not read English or understand street signs.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Newsom’s office for comment on the matter.
Similar operations targeting illegal aliens were executed in Indiana, New York, and Oklahoma, and resulted in the arrest of more than 200 illegal immigrant truck drivers who received CDLs.
“This week, HSI, along with our partners, conducted enforcement operations targeting illegal foreign commercial truck drivers throughout California’s Central Valley in the interest of public safety,” said Tatum King, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) San Francisco. “In the wake of multiple fatal motor vehicle accidents involving illegal aliens operating as commercial truck drivers, federal law enforcement is taking action to prevent further tragedy.”
ICE arrested more than 100 illegal alien truck drivers as part of Operation Highway Sentinel in California, following fatal crashes linked to state-issued CDLs. (Department of Homeland Security)
The latest operation in California targeted trucking companies in the central and northern parts of the state suspected of engaging in criminal activity, ICE said.
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ICE also said the trucking industry is known to law enforcement for involving criminal organizations engaged, among other things, in human trafficking, labor trafficking, drug trafficking and merchandise theft.
Of the 101 illegal foreign truck drivers arrested during the operation, all will be detained by ICE pending immigration proceedings.
ICE arrested more than 100 illegal alien truck drivers as part of Operation Highway Sentinel in California, following fatal crashes linked to state-issued CDLs. (Department of Homeland Security)
Earlier this year, an Indian national who has been issued a California CDL allegedly killed a carload of people after attempting to make an illegal U-turn on a Florida highway.
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The Florida Attorney General’s Office said in October that the driver, Harjinder Singh, failed his CDL test 10 times in two months before finally getting a license in 2023. Washington State.
The Washington company that trained Singh for his CDL certified that he could speak English, although he struggled to speak it properly, the senior official said. However, Washington issued Singh his first CDL, and California then granted him another.
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Officials investigating wreck in Florida said Singh failed English and road signs tests. He is accused of jackknifing his 18-wheeler during an illegal U-turn, causing a pickup truck to crash into the side of the semi, killing three people.
The Florida AG’s office has since taken California and Washington to the Supreme Court to block the two states from issuing CDLs to illegal immigrants. The lawsuit accuses states of failing to comply with federal security and immigration status requirements.
