Two illegal migrant truck drivers accused of hauling millions in cocaine across the country had obtained their commercial driver’s licenses in California.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has lodged detainer requests for 25-year-old Gurpreet Singh and 30-year-old Jasper Singh, both of whom are Indian nationals living unlawfully in the U.S., according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Indiana State Police arrested the two men after they were allegedly caught hiding over 300 pounds of cocaine inside a semi-truck in Putnam County on Saturday.
The Trump administration, which has increasingly sparred with California officials over the growing crisis of illegal migrants in the U.S. trucking industry, placed blame on Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom over the latest incident.
“Thanks to Gavin Newsom’s reckless policies, these two criminal illegal aliens were granted commercial licenses by the state of California and were arrested for trafficking a whopping 300 pounds of cocaine inside a semi-truck,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“Gavin Newsom and his fellow sanctuary politicians even refused to honor an arrest detainer on one of these criminal illegal aliens in December,” McLaughlin continued. “Sanctuary policies put American lives at risk. ICE law enforcement lodged arrest detainers to ensure these drug traffickers are not allowed back into American communities.”
Jasveer Singh unlawfully entered the country in March 2017 near Otay Mesa, California, according to DHS. The Indian national was arrested on December 5 for stolen property in the San Bernardino area and was subject to an ICE detainer at the time, but that request was not honored and he was released back into the U.S.
Gurpreet Singh illegally entered the U.S. in March 2023 near Lukeville, Arizona, and was ultimately released into the country by the Biden administration, according to DHS.
The massive drug bust took place during a routine traffic stop by the Indiana State Police, according to local reports. The Indian nationals — who were on their way to Richmond, Indiana, from Joplin, Missouri — were reportedly hiding $7 million worth of cocaine in the sleeper berth of their semi-truck. The amount confiscated was enough to kill more than 113,000 Americans, per a DHS statement.
The major arrests mark the latest in an ongoing crisis of illegal migrants employed within the U.S. trucking industry.
Harjinder Singh, an Indian man who unlawfully entered the U.S., is accused of taking an illegal U-turn off a Florida turnpike in August, blocking all lanes and instantly killing three people in a vehicle that smashed into his tractor-trailer. Jashanpreet Singh, another Indian man in the country unlawfully, allegedly rammed into multiple vehicles off a California highway in October, killing three individuals in the process.
Rajinder Kumar, an Indian national arrested in November for allegedly causing a fatal accident along an Oregon highway, is currently wanted by federal immigration officials for being in the country unlawfully. Kamalpreet Singh, yet another illegal migrant from India, is accused of causing a fatal accident in Washington State in December while driving a semi-truck.
The Department of Transportation has zeroed in on California for its purported failure to comply with federal regulations concerning commercial driver’s licenses.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy in December accused Newsom of lying and said California could lose nearly $160 million in federal funds if it fails to comply with a Jan. 5 deadline to revoke foreign trucker licenses.
“California does NOT have an ‘extension’ to keep breaking the law and putting Americans at risk on the roads,” Duffy said at the time. “Miss the deadline, Gavin, and the [DOT]will act — including cutting nearly $160 million in federal funding.”
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