Photo: CBS 12
The U.S. Secretary of Transportation is calling the deaths of three people on the Turnpike near Fort Pierce a "preventable tragedy."
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has launched an investigation into that illegal U-turn at the hands of an illegal immigrant who was driving a semi.
Harjinder Singh obtained a commercial drivers license from California and Sean Duffy says "Non-enforcement and radical immigration policies have turned the trucking industry into a lawless frontier." The FMCSA investigation is looking into both the driver and the motor carrier, White Hawk Carriers, Inc.
Singh reportedly failed an English Language Proficiency assessment and could only accurately identify one of four highway traffic signs. Still, he was able to obtain from California a "limited-term/non-domiciled CDL" in July of last year, and investigators want to know whether that license was issued in accordance with federal regulations.
It was also revealed that in 2023, Singh was issued a regular full-term CDL from Washington state, something the Administration says asylum seekers or those without legal status are not eligible for.
Singh's three alleged victims were in a minivan that slammed into the tractor-trailer and he is expected to be extradited to St. Lucie County from California to face charges of vehicular homicide next week.
There's also an ICE detainer on him.