The USA has stopped issuing visas for business truck drivers following a lethal crash in South Florida earlier this month.
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Secretary of State Marco Rubio introduced the transfer Thursday, saying the freeze takes impact instantly.
“Efficient instantly we’re pausing all issuance of employee visas for business truck drivers,” Rubio wrote on X. “The rising variety of overseas drivers working massive tractor-trailer vans on U.S. roads is endangering American lives and undercutting the livelihoods of American truckers.”
The announcement comes days after Harjinder Singh, 28, was charged with three counts of vehicular murder in reference to an August 12 crash on Interstate 95 in St. Lucie County. Investigators say Singh tried an unlawful U-turn, inflicting a Chrysler City & Nation minivan to slam into his semi-truck. The impression killed three folks, together with a 30-year-old driver from Florida Metropolis and two passengers from Pompano Seashore and Miami. Singh was not injured.
Singh, a local of India, had been dwelling within the U.S. illegally since crossing the border from Mexico in 2018, authorities stated. He obtained a business driver’s license in California by way of the federal SAVE verification system, which permits states to substantiate the immigration standing of candidates. He was arrested on August 16 by U.S. Marshals in Stockton, California, after allegedly fleeing the crash website.
“The actions taken by the defendant whereas working a business tractor-trailer are each stunning and felony,” Florida Freeway Security and Motor Autos Govt Director Dave Kerner stated. “Three folks misplaced their lives because of his recklessness, and numerous family and friends members will expertise the ache of their loss without end.”
The Trump administration has pointed the blame at California Gov. Gavin Newsom, accusing the state of lax licensing practices that allowed Singh to legally function a business automobile.
Overseas-born truck drivers have turn into an rising presence within the U.S. trade, doubling in quantity between 2000 and 2021 to greater than 720,000, in response to federal knowledge. At this time, they make up 18 p.c of the workforce, with most coming from Latin America, in addition to rising numbers from India, Ukraine, and different nations.
Giant Caribbean diaspora communities in locations like New York, Florida, New Jersey, Georgia, and Texas even have members working in trucking, particularly Jamaicans, Haitians, Trinidadians, and Guyanese. These communities typically enter trucking as a result of it provides steady employment, comparatively fast certification by way of CDL packages, and alternatives for entrepreneurship (proudly owning/working rigs).
