California’s Punjabi truckers say they’re being harassed after deadly Florida wreck

For 15 years, Sumit Singh attracted loads to Los Angeles ports and nationwide.

But for the first time, Punjab Sikh truck driver now does not want to leave the state. Three of his colleagues were detained by immigrant officers, and every day in the WhatsApp group conversation, new truck transport horror stories emerge.

“Currently, many drivers are afraid, Sing Singh said.

Punjab drivers say they were harassed after the arrest of 28 -year -old Harjinder Singh, an Indian -born truck driver who allegedly made an illegal U -turn and killed three people in Florida.

The incident caused online vitriole against the SIH community and turned into a political shouting match about illegal migration and the qualities and tests of international truck drivers.

The Ministry of Internal Security accused the driver accused of causing an accident, accusing California for obtaining commercial driver’s license and work permit in the state.

According to DHS, Harjinder Singh received a commercial driver’s license in Washington and California, although the English fluency test failed. US Marshals Service said that it entered the US illegally through Mexico in 2018.

“Because of just one person, the whole community should not be punished, Sum Sumit Singh said. “Drivers don’t feel comfortable on the road.”

He said that Punjabis has now heard that he had targeted unprepared English proficiency tests at highway checkpoints and weighing stations.

Most of the sihs are from the northern Punjab province in India. Many sporting turbans are usually connected to covering bright colored and unpurstant hair. Turbans and beards are important symbols of their beliefs and cultures.

Singh is a common surname in the Sih community, and none of the people mentioned in this story are about.

Thousands of Punjab SIH truck drivers and operators, which make up the backbone of American trade, feel threatened by increasing examination.

Defending groups say that there has been an increase in threats and security concerns since the Florida incident.

Truck transport businesses of SİH, who struggled with slowing down due to increasing tariffs, are now faced with a new difficulty. Drivers do not want to drive on the inter -state highways because of fear of losing their livelihoods due to advanced controls.

There are about 750,000 Punjabi Sikh in the United States. According to Harman Singh, General Manager of the SİH Coalition, the biggest magic of Civil Rights in the USA, is about 150.000 studies in the truck industry based on the West coast.

Truck stops have a national SİHS network that works in areas adjacent to the truck from Indian restaurants to truck schools and logistics companies.

The truck culture has revealed its own type of Punjab music in India and North America. “Life of the driver “ And “Trucker. “

Fontana -based Cargo Solutions Express, Finance and Operation Director 52 -year -old Baldev Khang, has been the hardest period for decades for decades.

A number of Advers encountered an event: a general slowdown in the truck due to increasing tariffs, extra 50% tariff targeting Indian imports, and now drivers are targeted because they are licensing from California.

“Many drivers don’t want to go on, Khang said Khang, using a term that means things that require drivers to cross the state lines. “They prefer a local job.”

Khang said that three of the SİHT truck drivers have been arrested in recent weeks. The company operates 1,000 trucks that give loads for Walmart, Amazon and others.

Somalia and Mexican drivers also avoided the roads, he said.

Only this week, five of the Punjabi drivers came out of fear of targeting. All those who quit had valid work permits given by California, but he said that after hearing that people with California documents were harassed in Oklahoma, Texas and Florida.

Another concern for immigrant truckers was the British language proficiency test for commercial truck drivers.

In late April, President Trump issued an executive order stating that truckers who could not speak or read the language inadequate or could not read the language. Order said it is necessary to understand traffic signs, communicate with border patrol or answer questions at the checkpoints to keep American ways safe.

This reappeared in the public debate when the Trump administration said that the driver in the Florida accident failed in an English proficiency test after the incident.

After the accident, Foreign Minister Marco Rubio frozen for a foreign worker visa for commercial truck drivers.

Raman Dhillon, the CEO of North America Punjabi Trucking Assn, who is a community, 2,500 members of the Sikh worship in Stockton, started English lessons for truck drivers.

DHillon said that the commercial driver’s license test system in California is defective and that soft application standards in driving schools lead to a very easy license for DMVs working time owners.

“You are shouting at people right now. You are shouting at the community right now,” Dhillon said. “Who allowed him to do this? This is your DMVs. This is your states.”

Even when fighting for reform, Dhillon Singh criticized his politicians, including Lieutenant Jay Collins, for calling Harjinder Singh as “bandit, and said that the rhetoric species surrounding the event was unjustly the SIH community.

In one example, he remembered that a sih driver waiting at a truck stop was harassed and when he called 911, the police appeared and asked the driver to leave.

“They throw water bottles into trucks. They throw eggs into the trucks,” Dhillon Singh said. “This is the entire by -product of Florida’s doing in this case.”

Since the Florida case, the Civil Rights Organization Sikh Coalition has made dozens of calls, some of them who asked for help from the Sikh truckers, some have reached language resources to access.

Harman Singh, “To protect people on the road to protect discreet security measures need to accept exactly,” he said. “And at the same time what we want to do is to make sure that the roadside inspectors do not create profiles of sih and Punjab truck drivers, because they seem to speak English because of visible faith items.”