U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said it arrested more than 100 undocumented commercial truck drivers during a California enforcement effort dubbed Operation Highway Sentinel, which the agency described as a response to a series of fatal crashes it says involved drivers holding commercial driving licenses (CDLs) connected to California.
Federal authorities said the operation followed multiple deadly crashes in several states that they linked to undocumented truck drivers associated with California-issued CDLs, arguing the incidents have intensified concerns about commercial licensing policies and road safety beyond the state’s borders.
ICE said those arrested included individuals from India, Mexico, Colombia, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Nicaragua, Russia, Georgia, Venezuela, El Salvador, and Honduras.
“Gavin Newsom’s sanctuary state policies are costing American lives,” ICE Deputy Director Madison Sheahan said in a statement, alleging California issued CDLs to people who should not have been approved to operate commercial vehicles. Sheahan added that ICE is “stepping in” through enforcement efforts similar to operations the agency says it has conducted in other states.
ICE said in a press release that Operation Highway Sentinel was launched amid what it called growing concerns that undocumented drivers operating commercial vehicles have been involved in fatal crashes in states including California, Florida, and Oregon, claiming eight deaths across incidents cited by the agency.
The agency also alleged that California, under Gov. Gavin Newsom, issued thousands of CDLs to undocumented individuals, including some who ICE claimed could not read English or understand road signs. Newsom’s office was contacted for comment, according to the report.
ICE said related enforcement efforts in states including Indiana, New York, and Oklahoma have resulted in more than 200 arrests of undocumented truck drivers it says were issued CDLs.
“This week HSI, along with our partners, conducted enforcement operations targeting illegal alien commercial truck drivers across California’s Central Valley in the interest of public safety,” said Tatum King, special agent in charge at Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) San Francisco. King said federal agencies are taking action following deadly crashes to prevent further incidents.
ICE said the California operation focused on trucking companies in central and northern parts of the state that it suspected of engaging in criminal activity. The agency also said law enforcement views portions of the trucking industry as vulnerable to exploitation by criminal organizations involved in crimes such as human smuggling, labor trafficking, narcotics trafficking, and cargo theft.
ICE said all 101 individuals arrested in the operation will be held pending immigration proceedings.
The report also referenced a Florida crash earlier this year involving an Indian national who had received a CDL and is alleged to have caused a fatal collision during an illegal U-turn involving an 18-wheeler and a van, killing three people. Officials investigating that crash said the driver failed English and road-sign tests.
The Florida Attorney General’s Office said in October that the driver, Harjinder Singh, failed his CDL test 10 times within two months before obtaining a license in 2023 in Washington State. According to the report, a training company attested the driver could speak English, though a senior official said he struggled to do so proficiently. The report said Washington issued his first CDL and California later issued another.
According to the report, Florida’s attorney general has sued California and Washington in a filing with the Supreme Court seeking to block the states from issuing CDLs to undocumented immigrants, arguing the states failed to comply with federal safety and immigration-status requirements.
