Federal officials said Wednesday that the driver accused of triggering a deadly, multi-vehicle pileup in Tennessee last week is an illegal immigrant who obtained a commercial driver’s license in New York.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Transportation (DOT) identified the suspect as 54-year-old Yisong Huang and said he entered the United States from Mexico in 2023. According to the agencies, he was released under the Biden administration and received work authorization documents. Officials also alleged Huang could not speak English.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the case reflects broader concerns he has raised about commercial licenses being issued to people who are not qualified to operate large vehicles on U.S. roads.
“It’s not just that Joe Biden let millions of migrants flood into our country illegally,” Duffy said in a statement Wednesday. “His administration doled out the documentation these unqualified foreign drivers needed to obtain trucking licenses and operate 40-ton missiles on the highway. The fact that this individual failed a basic English test also calls into question how he even got the license in the first place.”
Investigators said Huang was driving an empty bus on Dec. 9 when he became “distracted by a video on his phone” while traveling on a major highway.
The New York Post reported Huang was operating a tour bus. Officials said he allegedly rear-ended a tractor-trailer, setting off a chain-reaction crash that resulted in two injuries and the death of an American citizen, Kerry Smith.
Huang was arrested and charged with vehicular manslaughter, according to the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office.
DHS said Huang admitted to Border Patrol agents that he is a Chinese national, but was later released and provided work authorization papers and a Social Security card. The agency alleged those documents enabled him to obtain a Class B CDL—an approval process that, officials say, ultimately put him behind the wheel before the fatal crash.
New York’s Department of Motor Vehicles told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that Huang’s license was issued on April 11, 2025, and that he presented the required federal documents. The agency said those documents established “lawful presence” through July 15, 2029.
In a statement Tuesday, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem blamed so-called sanctuary policies for allowing non-citizens to obtain commercial licenses and said the administration is moving to change that. “Far too many innocent Americans have been killed by illegal aliens driving semitrucks and big rigs,” she said, adding that federal immigration enforcement is working to remove criminal offenders and “get [them]…off our roads.”
Duffy said Friday that a nationwide audit found more than half of New York’s non-domiciled commercial trucking licenses—commercial licenses issued to people who are not legal residents of the state—were improperly issued.
According to Duffy, the state DMV “has been routinely issuing CDLs to foreign drivers illegally,” and the audit showed a 53% failure rate among records reviewed. He described that figure as evidence of serious breakdowns in how New York’s CDL program is being administered.
In response, New York State DMV spokesperson Walter McClure pushed back, calling Duffy’s claims false and politically motivated.
“Secretary Duffy is lying about New York State once again in a desperate attempt to distract from the failing, chaotic administration he represents,” McClure said Friday.
He added that CDLs are regulated at the federal level and said New York DMV follows federal requirements, including verification of lawful status through federally issued documentation reviewed under federal regulations. McClure said the agency would review the U.S. Department of Transportation’s letter and respond.
Fox News Digital said it reached out to the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, the Tennessee Highway Patrol, and the Tennessee DOT for additional information.
