Days after an immigrant from California was extradited to Florida for allegedly killing three in a trucking accident here, Florida will begin to target truck-driving immigrants at interstate inspection stations throughout the state.
At an inspection station off the eastbound lanes on Interstate 10 in Live Oak, Florida officials said they would begin to intercept undocumented immigrants with driver's licenses from other states at these sites.
They're also asking the federal government to revoke commercial driver's license (CDL) programs for undocumented immigrants. But while some states do allow undocumented immigrants to obtain a driver's license, no state has a program that allows undocumented immigrants to obtain a CDL.
"We're going to continue to interdict as many people as possible," Attorney General James Uthmeier said at the Aug. 25 news conference.
As previously reported, Harjinder Singh, a California resident and undocumented immigrant, made what law enforcement said was an illegal U-turn on the turnpike near Fort Pierce on Aug. 12 that resulted in the deaths of three people.
Singh originally came from India and entered the U.S. illegally through the Mexico border in 2018, according the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.
He was approved and reapproved for a federally-issued work permit, however, with his most recent approval in April of this year. It's possible to obtain what is called a "non-domiciled CDL" if a person has a federally-authorized work permit.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom and President Donald Trump's administration now are feuding over whether the state or the federal government is responsible for approving Singh's work permit.
As previously reported, Singh, 28, tried to do a U-turn using an “official use only” cut-through from the northbound outside lane as he was driving a semi-trailer.
A 2015 Chrysler minivan traveling north on the inside lane slammed into the truck, killing a 54-year-old man from Miami, a 37-year-old woman from Pompano Beach, and a 30-year-old man from Florida City.
There are 23 agriculture inspection stations across the state, with another on the way, Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson said. In the past year, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services' law enforcement has arrested or turned over almost 150 undocumented immigrants.
"Ag Law is not just looking for agricultural bugs ... we're also looking for drugs and thugs," he said. All agriculture law enforcement in Florida were certified to work with federal immigration enforcement in early July, Simpson said.
A Change.org petition that asks Gov. Ron DeSantis for "fair sentencing," for Singh currently has more than 2.7 million signatures.
Ana Goñi-Lessan, state watchdog reporter for the USA TODAY Network – Florida, can be reached at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Florida ag law to ramp up immigration arrests on interstates
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