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The Trump Administration plans to withhold $40 million from California over its refusal to enforce English language requirements for truck drivers, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Wednesday.
The move came weeks after an investigation found that illegal truck driver Harjinder Singh killed three people after making an illegal U-turn on a Florida highway in August. California had issued a driver’s license to trade, but these English laws create danger.
Duffy pointed to California’s failure to enforce English proficiency laws following one of Mongald Trump’s biggest orders.
Duffy responds with ‘alligator tears’ comments in California Truck Driver Case
California Gov. Gavin Newlom (left) and Transport Secretary Sean Duffy (right). On Wednesday, Duffy said he would get $40 million from California for its failure to enforce English language laws for commercial truck drivers. (Ayfun coskun / anadolu via Getty Images (left); yuki iwamura / bloomberg via Getty Images (right))
“California is the only state in the nation that refuses to ensure that Big Rig drivers can read our traffic signs and communicate with the law and your family on America’s roads,” Duffy said.
“The golden empire thinks it’s okay to ignore English language requirements for truckers. You can play all the games you want,” Duffy wrote in X.
Duffy said the truck driver in the Florida crash should not have been issued a commercial license because of his immigration status.
Diana Crofts-Pelayo, spokeswoman for California Gov. Gavin Newlom, told fox digital news that California truck drivers have a lower than average crash rate.
Composite image shows firefighters responding to the Florida crash involving Harjinder Singh’s truck and Singh has been identified on Mexico 3, 2025. (St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office;
“Looks like the transportation secretary needs a lesson in the rules of the road,” Crofts-Pelayo said. “The truth is simple: California’s driver’s license holders had a fatal accident rate that was nearly lower than the nation’s license rate, with the highest driver’s license rate.”
“Facts don’t lie, although for the Trump administration, they appear willingly,” he added.
GOP rep targets Trucker’s English skills after illegal immigration in deadly Florida crash
Harjender Singh, a 28-year-old Indian immigrant from India, was arrested on August 16, 2025. Singh allegedly attempted to make an unauthorized U-Turn at the U-Turn in Ft. Pierce, Florida on Tuesday, which resulted in a crash that killed three people. (United States Marshals Service)
Singh, an Indian citizen, is being held without bond after being charged with three federal counts of vehicular homicide and importation.
Investigators say he failed an English proficiency test but was still granted a truck driver’s license. Duffy and Florida authorities have accused California and Washington State of revoking his commercial driver’s license.
However, California officials say Singh had a valid work permit at the time. Authorities said he entered the United States illegally from Mexico in 2018.
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To get the money back, California must apply English laws and ensure that state inspectors test truck driving skills during roadside inspections and remove anyone from the road who fails.
The accompanying device contributed to this report.
