WASHINGTON, D.C.— The U.S. government has quickly and controversially decided that it will stop issuing visas to commercial truck drivers right away. Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State, posted about the decision on social media. It comes just days after a tragedy on the Florida Motorway that killed three people. The driver, Harjinder Singh, an Indian national who has been in the country illegally since 2018, is suspected of making an illegal U-turn that led to the horrific crash.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says that Singh, who was in the U.S. illegally, got a business driver’s license in California, which is one of 19 states that don’t need verification of legal immigration status to get a license. He is said to have gone to California after the collision and was later detained by U.S. Marshals. Lt. Gov. Jay Collins of Florida went to Stockton, California, to personally bring Singh back to Florida, where he is charged with three counts of vehicular homicide. Collins publicly blamed California’s “failed policies” for the tragedy. This made the political competition between Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis and California’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom even worse. Both are viewed as possible future presidential candidates.
The State Department has stopped issuing visas for three types of people: temporary workers on the H-2B visa, investors on the E-2 visa, and skilled professionals on the EB-3 visa. Even though the decision is a big change in policy, it shouldn’t have a big effect on the trucking business. Jeff Joseph, president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said that only about 1,500 H-2B visas for truck drivers were given out this year. The initiative, which only covers a small number of the country’s 3.5 million commercial drivers, has been utilized to fix a long-term problem with not having enough drivers.
Secretary Rubio said that the suspension is essential because “more and more foreign drivers are driving large tractor-trailer trucks on U.S. roads, which puts American lives at risk and hurts the livelihoods of American truckers.” But his statement didn’t include any concrete facts to back up his allegations. A State Department official later indicated that the pause was put in place “to conduct a comprehensive and thorough review of screening and vetting protocols.”
The Trump administration’s ongoing assault on immigration has focused on the case of Harjinder Singh. DHS verified that Singh had been arrested by Border Patrol in 2018 but was let go on a $5,000 immigration bond after saying he was afraid to go back to India. This revelation has led to more condemnation from the government and its allies, who say that sanctuary state policies and weak immigration enforcement put American lives in danger.