By David L. Snelling

Miami – The states of Florida and California are on a collision course over the latter’s immigration sanctuary policies which allowed an illegal immigrant to gain a commercial driver’s license who caused a deadly accident.

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeire announced he has filed a lawsuit against California with the United States Supreme Court for issuing Harjinder Singh a commercial driver’s license after reportedly crossing the U.S.-Mexican border.

Uthmeire is suing to permanently bar some states from issuing commercial driver’s licenses or CDLs to people who are not U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents.

In August 2025, Singh was in Florida driving an 18-wheeler when he made an illegal U-Turn in a restricted area for emergency vehicles near the Florida Turnpike. A vehicle crashed into the 18-wheeler killing three Haitian Americans who were headed to Indiana.

He faces three counts of vehicular homicide and manslaughter.

In addition, the Associated Press reported this week that Singh had failed a commercial driver’s license test 10 times in a two-month span in 2023 in Washington state.

In a separate case, another semi-truck driver accused of being in the country illegally was charged with killing three people in a crash on a southern California freeway last week, renewing federal officials’ criticisms of immigrant drivers and concerns about who should be able to obtain CDLs.

Uthmeire blames California and Gov. Gavin Newsom for the deadly crashes, saying the state is not enforcing stricter immigration laws.

“We are taking California to the U.S. Supreme Court,” Uthemiere said on X.

Uthmeire said California’s sanctuary law for immigration has an impact on Florida including increased costs on taxpayers, crime and reckless driving.

“They are knowingly aware of the dangers that their policies cause,” Uthemiere said. “They know that by giving people these truckers’ licenses who don’t speak English, they’re putting families on the road in jeopardy. Lives are lost. They know about it. They need to be held responsible.”

According to the Global Statistics, as of 2025, California has about 2.6 million illegal immigrants, which is the largest population of unauthorized immigrants in the nation. That’s 23 percent of the total unauthorized immigrant population across the United States.

According to California’s sanctuary state law, the state limits local law enforcement with federal immigration authorities and prevents them from investigating, arresting or detaining individuals solely for immigration violations.

The law also restricts the sharing of information with federal agencies.

Exceptions exist for individuals convicted of serious crimes, and the law does not prevent federal agencies from carrying out their own immigration enforcement operations.

Conversely, Florida immigration laws are harder on undocumented immigrants including law enforcement cooperating with ICE and Department of Homeland Security to round up illegal aliens, detain and deport them.

In addition, undocumented immigrants can face misdemeanor charges for entering the state with the knowledge of immigration officials and repeated offenses constitute a felony.

Under Florida’s new law, undocumented immigrants could face capital punishment if convicted of murder and child sexual crimes.

Florida is taking steps to prevent similar incidents caused by Singh.

For the upcoming 2026 Legislative Session, state Sen. Don Gaetz (R- Pensacola) is sponsoring a bill which would prohibit undocumented immigrants from operating commercial motor vehicles. Law enforcement would be required to take illegal aliens into custody and subsequently turn them over to ICE and other immigration authorities. Furthermore, the commercial vehicle that was driven by the unauthorized alien would be required to be impounded.

The bill would impose significant financial penalties for the owner of an impounded vehicle, including a $50,000 fine payable to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, and any associated costs or fees related to the impoundment, including the cost of notification, before it would be released back to the owner.

Motor carriers that own, lease, or operate a commercial motor vehicle driven by an unauthorized alien who is taken into custody would be banned from conducting any future business in Florida.