Immigration authorities have detained yet another illegal migrant truck driver now accused of leaving an American citizen fighting for life after a violent crash on a U.S. highway.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents took custody of Sukhdev Singh, a 25-year-old Indian national living unlawfully in the United States, earlier in March after he allegedly caused a traffic collision that left an American citizen hospitalized in critical condition, the Daily Caller News Foundation has exclusively learned. According to the Daily Caller, Singh had managed to secure a Commercial Drivers License (CDL) in New York before crashing a tractor-trailer in Indianapolis, Indiana.
It is common sense: illegal aliens should not be operating 18-wheelers on American highways. We are praying this individual makes a full recovery, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Deputy?Assistant?Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement provided to the DCNF. Bis underscored the broader public-safety risk posed by such policies, adding, It is incredibly dangerous for illegal aliens, who often dont know our traffic laws or even English, to be operating 18-wheelers on Americas roads.
Bis directly blamed permissive state policies for enabling these incidents, singling out New Yorks Democratic leadership for criticism. Sanctuary governors like Kathy Hochul must stop giving illegal aliens drivers license before even more Americans get injured or killed, she continued, framing the issue as a predictable consequence of sanctuary-style governance.
According to DHS, Singh was driving a semi-truck along I-65 on March 6 when he allegedly struck a pedestrian on or near the roadway. The victim was rushed to a nearby hospital in critical condition, while Indiana State Police operating under state laws that promote robust cooperation with federal immigration authorities promptly notified ICE.
Federal agents arrived later that evening and assumed custody of Singh, who is now in immigration detention, according to DHS officials. While it remains unclear when Singh first entered the country illegally, records show he obtained a non-domiciled CDL the category of commercial license frequently used by illegal migrant truckers from New York officials on Jan. 2, 2025.
The Indianapolis arrest is only the latest in a disturbing pattern of catastrophic and often deadly crashes allegedly caused by illegal migrant truck drivers on American roads. In early February, an illegal migrant trucker allegedly killed four members of the Amish community in Indiana, an incident that followed similarly deadly wrecks in Florida, California and other states where lax enforcement has collided with heavy trucking traffic.
This mounting toll has prompted the Trump administration to move aggressively to keep commercial licenses out of the hands of illegal migrants and restore basic safeguards to the trucking industry. Conservatives have argued that allowing individuals who are in the country unlawfully and often unfamiliar with U.S. traffic laws to operate 40-ton rigs on public highways is a recipe for tragedy.
In September, the Department of Transportation (DOT) sharply curtailed the use of non-domiciled CDLs after a federal audit uncovered what it described as catastrophic patterns of states unlawfully issuing licenses to foreign truck drivers. Then in February, the DOT tightened the screws further, unveiling additional rules to block illegal migrants from getting behind the wheel of 18-wheelers, including new vetting procedures and the closure of a loophole that had allowed foreigners with poor driving records to obtain trucking licenses.
President Donald Trump elevated the issue to the national stage during his State of the Union address in February, announcing his push for Dalilahs Law, legislation named after a young girl whose life was permanently altered by an illegal migrant truck driver. Dalilah Coleman was only 5 years old in June 2024 when an 18-wheel tractor-trailer plowed into her stopped car traveling at 60 miles an hour or more, the president said during the address, recounting the devastating crash.
Trump directly linked Dalilahs suffering to the Biden administrations border and licensing policies, saying, The driver was an illegal alien let in by Joe Biden and given a commercial drivers license by open borders, politicians and California. His remarks encapsulated a broader conservative critique that progressive immigration and sanctuary policies are not abstract ideals but decisions with lethal real-world consequences for American families.
The day after Trumps speech, Indiana Republican Sen. Jim Banks introduced Dalilahs Law and has since been working closely with her father to advance the bill through Congress. Banks has long pressed for reform in the trucking sector, previously urging the DOT to crack down on so-called chameleon carriers that rebrand to evade safety rules and proposing a trucker trip line to allow industry insiders to report misconduct and regulatory violations.
New York has emerged as a particular flashpoint in this controversy, with a December DOT investigation finding that over 50% of the states non-domiciled CDLs were issued illegally. In response, the Trump administration has threatened to withhold millions of dollars in federal funding from New York unless state officials reverse course, tighten their licensing practices and stop enabling illegal migrants to operate heavy commercial vehicles on Americas highways.
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