The Indian truck driver who killed three people in a fiery eight-car pileup last year in California pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter but will spend less than five years in prison.
A judged on July 14 sentenced Jashanpreet Singh, a 21-year-old Indian national, to four years and eight months in prison for causing the deadly crash on Interstate 10 in southern California.
Singh, an illegal immigrant who was a Biden-era release, is among several Indian truckers involved in deadly crashes in the last year, raising serious concerns over illegal immigrants driving 18-wheelers on America’s highways.
Singh pleaded guilty to three felony counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence related to the October 2025 crash, according to NBC 4 Los Angeles.
Trump administration officials torched the California judge’s lenient sentence after he killed three people. The case, along with several other crashes, has sparked a showdown between federal and state officials over California’s commercial licensing process.
U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy called the sentencing a “slap on the wrist.”
“If California followed the rules, illegal aliens like Jashanpreet Singh wouldn’t be driving 80,000-pound missiles down our roads,” Duffy shared on X. “We won’t stop until ALL illegal truckers are put out of business and held accountable.”
5 years is a slap on the wrist for KILLING 3 AMERICANS
If California followed the rules, illegal aliens like Jashanpreet Singh wouldn’t be driving 80,000 pound missiles down our roads
We won’t stop until ALL illegal truckers are put out of business and held accountable https://t.co/09BbHNeltn
— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) July 15, 2026
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said immigration officials were standing by to arrest the trucker upon his release, so “he is never allowed back on our roads to take another innocent life.”
Singh changed his plea from not guilty to guilty during a hearing last month ahead of sentencing, according to the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office.
“This is a wildly insufficient punishment for a foreign national, in our country illegally, who killed 3 people with a truck,” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said regarding Singh’s sentence.
Local authorities initially arrested Singh on suspicion of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and driving under the influence. DUI charges were dropped after toxicology tests later confirmed that Singh was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol, per ABC 10 News.
The chain-reaction pileup involved eight vehicles, including Singh’s 18-wheeler plus three semi-trucks, two pickup trucks and two cars and left a horrific scene that closed the highway for several hours. In total, three people died and four others were injured.
“It was one of those crashes where there were car parts everywhere. We had a hazardous material incident. It was a very large scene,” Officer Rodrigo Jimenez with California Highway Patrol said in a NBC 4 report on his plea deal.
Dashcam video captured the crash on the freeway in San Bernardino County, revealing Singh did not attempt to stop before plowing into slow-moving traffic on the highway.
After slamming into a white SUV, Singh’s semi-truck continued forward, hitting multiple other cars before crossing over two lanes and crashing into a truck that was stopped on the side of the road.
A witness said the crash sounded like a big explosion. He recalled seeing a red semi-truck, driven by Singh, barrel down the freeway and plow into several vehicles.
“It didn’t stop. It didn’t swerve. It didn’t make any kind of maneuvers. It just went straight in,” witness Jason Calmelat said per NBC 4.
Following the crash, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement lodged an arrest detainer for Singh. He has remained in custody in a San Bernardino County jail in Adelanto and was ineligible for bail, per NBC 4.
Singh crossed the southern border in 2022 and was released into the United States by the Biden administration, according to federal sources. Border Patrol agents encountered him in California’s El Centro Sector and let him go pending an immigration hearing.
Singh was released under Biden’s “alternatives to detention” policy, one of countless cases where illegal immigrants released pending hearings went on to commit a crime, Fox News previously reported.
Singh obtained a commercial driver’s license in June 2025 from California, according to the DOT. Local outlets have described Singh as a “Yuba City truck driver.”
Since the crash last fall, the DOT has targeted states that illegally issue non-domiciled commercial licenses to immigrant truckers, including California, and tighten the rules on foreigners who are eligible for a commercial license.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy also pulled federal highway safety funding from California for failing to comply with federal English language proficiency standards for commercial truck drivers.
Federal officials conducted a nationwide audit and uncovered widespread compliance issues involving commercial driver’s licenses in several states.
Duffy had directed California officials pause the issuance of new licenses to noncitizens and comply with new federal requirements, including revoking CDLs from drivers who did not meet the new rules.
The DOT issued emergency rules to change the CDL requirements, but they were challenged in court and the final rule did not take effect until March 16, 2026.
Federal officials said Singh should have been disqualified under an emergency DOT policy. California officials said his eligibility was based on federally approved employment authorization documents, Fox News Digital reported.
On Oct. 15, after he turned 21, a restriction on his commercial driver’s license was removed. The accident occurred on Oct. 21, 2025.
