The United States has suspended the issuance of visas for foreign truck drivers, following a deadly crash involving an Indian truck driver in Florida. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the decision on Thursday, citing concerns about the safety of American roads.
“Effective immediately, we are pausing all issuance of worker visas for commercial truck drivers,” Rubio posted on X (formerly Twitter). He further stated, “The increasing number of foreign drivers operating large tractor-trailer trucks on US roads is endangering American lives and undercutting the livelihoods of American truckers.”
The move comes after Harjinder Singh, an Indian national, was charged with killing three people in a crash on a Florida highway. According to federal officials, Singh had entered the US illegally from Mexico and failed an English proficiency test following the incident.
The crash has sparked widespread media attention and political debate, particularly within Florida, which is governed by Trump’s Republican Party. The state’s lieutenant governor traveled to California to personally oversee Singh’s extradition, along with immigration agents.
Singh’s commercial license was issued by California, which is governed by the Democratic Party. In response to the incident, Trump administration officials have blamed California Governor Gavin Newsom for issuing the license, while Newsom’s office stated that Singh’s work permit had been granted by the federal government and that California fully cooperated in his extradition.
Even before this incident, Republican lawmakers had criticized foreign truck drivers, pointing to an increase in truck crashes, though no direct link between the crashes and immigration has been established. In June, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy issued new directives requiring truck drivers to be proficient in English.
The number of foreign-born truck drivers in the US has significantly increased over the past two decades, with the foreign-born workforce in the trucking industry doubling from 2000 to 2021. Foreign-born drivers now account for 18 percent of the US trucking workforce, with large numbers coming from Latin America, India, and Eastern European countries, particularly Ukraine.
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