Three people are dead on a California freeway because Gavin Newsom’s DMV handed a commercial driver’s license to an asylum seeker who should never have been behind the wheel of an 80,000-pound truck.
The feds warned California. They issued emergency rules. They told Newsom to stop.
He didn’t. And now people are dead.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy isn’t mincing words: “California broke the law and now three people are dead and two are hospitalized. These people deserve justice. There will be consequences.”
Consequences are long overdue.
One in Four of California’s CDLs Were Issued Illegally
A Department of Transportation audit revealed the scope of the disaster.
California has issued approximately 60,000 “non-domiciled” commercial driver’s licenses to foreign nationals. And according to federal investigators, one in four of those licenses were issued improperly.
That’s 15,000 potentially illegal licenses. On 80,000-pound semi-trucks. Barreling down American highways right now.
Some of these licenses are valid until 2030 — even though the drivers’ immigration documents expired years ago. California’s DMV just kept renewing them, stamping approvals, ignoring federal law because that’s what California does.
Gavin Newsom turned the state’s CDL program into a rubber-stamp operation for anyone who showed up, legal status be damned.
The October Crash That Should End Careers
Here’s the timeline that should make you furious.
June 27, 2025: California issues a restricted CDL to Jashanpreet Singh, a 20-year-old asylum seeker. The license includes a “K restriction” limiting him to in-state driving only.
September 26, 2025: Secretary Duffy formally notifies California of “significant compliance failures” and issues an emergency rule. The new rule explicitly prevents asylum seekers from obtaining non-domiciled CDLs. California is ordered to pause issuance, identify noncompliant licenses, and revoke them.
October 15, 2025: Singh turns 21. California’s DMV removes his restriction and upgrades his license — in direct violation of the emergency rule that had been in effect for three weeks.
October 21, 2025: Singh, allegedly driving under the influence of drugs, crashes his semi-truck into stopped traffic on a California freeway. Three people die. Two more are hospitalized.
If California had followed the emergency rule, Singh would have had to return to the DMV to upgrade his license. At that point, he would have been found ineligible due to his asylum status. His CDL would have been revoked.
Instead, California ignored the rule. And three people are dead.
“We Have States Giving Out CDLs Like Candy”
Secretary Duffy isn’t pulling punches.
“We have states that are giving out CDLs like candy. They have allowed people who should NEVER have a CDL operating an 80,000 pound Big Rig on an American road.”
This isn’t just California. It’s New York. It’s Pennsylvania. It’s Illinois.
Just this week, a Tennessee truck driver was killed when a Chinese national with a New York-issued CDL crashed into his vehicle — allegedly while watching videos on his phone. The driver couldn’t speak English.
How do you navigate American highways if you can’t read the signs? How do you communicate with dispatchers, weigh stations, or first responders?
You don’t. You become a rolling hazard. And sometimes, you kill people.
Texas Shows What Compliance Looks Like
Not every state is playing games with public safety.
Texas led the nation in “out of service” orders earlier this year — truckers being pulled off the road for not being proficient in English. Governor Abbott responded immediately.
“Governor Abbott expects trucking companies in Texas to fully comply with President Trump’s Executive Order. Public safety is priority #1.”
Texas cracked down. They dropped from first to fifth in out-of-service orders. They’re working with federal partners. They’re actually enforcing the law.
Abbott’s message to other states: “While liberal states like California issue licenses to illegal immigrants and risk the lives of Americans, Texas will work with our federal partners to maintain safe roads and apprehend illegal immigrants to protect our communities.”
That’s the contrast. Texas fixes problems. California creates them.
The Feds Are Threatening to Pull Highway Funding
Here’s where it gets interesting.
Secretary Duffy is threatening to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars in federal highway funds from California unless Newsom reverses course.
That’s real leverage. California’s crumbling infrastructure depends on federal money. Their roads are already disasters. Their bridges need repairs. Their highways are overcrowded and underfunded.
Losing hundreds of millions would hurt. And Duffy seems willing to pull the trigger.
“We are going to hold states accountable,” he said Friday.
Newsom can keep playing politics with CDLs if he wants. But the price just went up.
This Is Sanctuary State Logic Applied to Commercial Trucking
California’s illegal CDL program is just an extension of their sanctuary philosophy.
Don’t check immigration status. Don’t cooperate with federal authorities. Don’t let enforcement get in the way of signaling virtue.
Except now it’s not just about who lives in your state. It’s about who’s driving semi-trucks on your highways. It’s about 80,000-pound vehicles operated by people who may be impaired, who may not speak English, who may have no legal right to be in the country at all.
The consequences aren’t abstract. They’re measured in bodies.
Three dead in October. One dead in Tennessee this week. How many more before California changes course?
Newsom Was Warned — And He Ignored It
This isn’t a case of bureaucratic confusion or slow implementation.
Gavin Newsom was explicitly warned that California’s CDL program was “dangerously broken.” The federal government issued emergency rules specifically designed to prevent drivers like Singh from getting behind the wheel.
California ignored those rules. Upgraded Singh’s license anyway. And six days later, he killed three people.
That’s not negligence. That’s defiance. Newsom’s administration made a deliberate choice to prioritize their sanctuary policies over public safety.
And three families are planning funerals because of it.
The Body Count Is Just Beginning
There are 60,000 non-domiciled CDLs in California. Fifteen thousand of them may have been issued illegally. Those drivers are on the roads right now.
How many are impaired? How many can’t read English? How many have immigration statuses that expired years ago?
We don’t know. California doesn’t know either. That’s the point — they weren’t checking.
Every day those drivers stay on the road is another day of Russian roulette on American highways. Another day waiting for the next crash, the next deaths, the next grieving family.
Secretary Duffy is right: There must be consequences.
Pull the funding. Revoke the licenses. Hold Newsom personally accountable for the deaths his policies have caused.
California’s roads are dangerous enough without the state actively making them worse.
