A commercial driver’s license (CDL) should not be a license to kill.
But “sanctuary state” policies, weak federal immigration enforcement under previous administrations and state licensing failures have put illegal immigrants and other drivers with disputed eligibility or qualifications in the cabs of massive trucks.
These failures continue to cause devastation on our roads.
On July 14, Jashanpreet Singh was sentenced to four years and eight months in state prison for killing three people with a big rig.
The 21-year-old Indian national drove into slow traffic on Interstate 10 in Ontario, Calif., on Oct. 21, 2025. He never touched the brakes. Clarence Nelson, 76; his wife Lisa, 69; and Jaime Flores Garcia, 54, were killed. Singh pleaded guilty to three felony counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence.
The sentence closes Singh’s criminal case. It does not explain why he held a California CDL.
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says Singh crossed illegally through El Centro in March 2022 and was released into the country by the Biden administration. He later received federal work authorization.
California issued Singh a restricted non-domiciled CDL on June 27, 2025, then removed the restriction when he turned 21 on Oct. 15. Six days later, he killed three people.
California converted federal work papers into permission to operate an 80,000-pound vehicle. Singh went before a judge. The licensing decisions received far less attention.
On July 1, Haitian national Michael Bon allegedly veered onto the shoulder of Interstate 81 in Pennsylvania and killed Trooper Michael Pahira Jr. during a roadside inspection. Bon’s humanitarian immigration parole — not criminal parole — was terminated by US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on June 13, 2025, yet Massachusetts renewed his CDL because the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database still showed him eligible. Bon faces homicide by vehicle and other charges. His criminal case remains pending.
Four days later, Uzbek diversity-visa entrant Bekhzod Asrarov allegedly rear-ended a car on Interstate 71 in Ohio and killed 21-year-old goalkeeper Tobias Forsythe. He faces a felony charge tied to the alleged removal of the truck’s dash camera. The fatal-crash investigation remains open, and prosecutors have said additional charges could follow. Authorities said Asrarov needed Google Translate at the scene and tried to conceal the truck’s dash camera. He entered legally; his case concerns whether English and competence requirements were enforced before Ohio issued his CDL.
On Feb. 3, Kyrgyz national Bekzhan Beishekeev, admitted through the Biden administration’s CBP One app and its parole policy, was driving a truck when he allegedly crossed the center line on a road in Indiana and struck a van, killing four. He has been charged with four counts of reckless homicide and three counts of criminal recklessness, and his criminal case remains pending. Pennsylvania issued his CDL after SAVE listed him as eligible. DHS later called him unlawfully present; Pennsylvania said the same system still approved him.
On April 11, naturalized US citizen Modou Ngom allegedly drove into slowed construction traffic in Ohio, killing Luke and Lynnea Soposki and their 1-year-old son, Logan. A Delaware County grand jury indicted him on three counts of aggravated vehicular homicide and four counts of vehicular assault. He has pleaded not guilty, and his criminal case remains pending. Separately, investigators say he used multiple names and birth dates to obtain an Ohio license, a CDL and later US citizenship under an alternate identity.
On May 19, Indian national Manvir Singh, released after crossing illegally through Arizona in 2023, allegedly drove a loaded semi-truck into traffic near Lodi, Calif., killing two passengers, ages 16 and 20, before fleeing on foot. Singh pleaded not guilty to two counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and related charges. Following a June 10 preliminary hearing, the court ordered the case to proceed on all counts. His criminal case remains pending.
Those five cases, all between February and July, left 11 people dead.
On July 15, President Donald Trump announced a plan to make veterans who drove heavy military vehicles automatically eligible for civilian CDLs.
The next day, DOT and DHS announced a joint operation targeting roughly 75 CDL schools suspected of falsifying training records, issuing improper certifications or failing to train drivers properly.
Every non-domiciled CDL needs a traceable file that records the examiner, the supervisor, an immigration-status check, a medical clearance, a language assessment, and the training provider.
When a license was unlawfully issued, it should be suspended. Sanctuary policy should provide no shield from liability.
When immigration status expires; CDLs should expire with it. No more CDLs for illegal immigrants.
Every state should shut down driving schools that commit fraud and revoke the business licenses of carriers that knowingly hire ineligible drivers.
And if states — including California — violate federal licensing rules, they should lose highway funds as well.
Kevin Cohen is the CEO of RealEye and head of cyber intelligence at Trident Group America.
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The post Revoke trucking licenses for illegal immigrants — and punish states that don’t comply appeared first on New York Post.
