Diaspora: Gurdwara Worker Dead, Truckers, Temp Residents & Racist Attack

The San Joaquin, California, US, County Sheriff’s Office announced on 23 Feb that the 57-year-old kidnapped victim Avtar Singh had been located dead. Avtar had been kidnapped on 18 Feb from a Damdami Taksal (Sikh seminary) Gurdwara Guru Nanak Parkash in Tracy. He had been serving as a chef at the Gurdwara for quite a few years. The perpetrators of the crime have not yet been identified. Meanwhile, a Sikh semi-truck driver jumped a red light in Hendricks County, Indiana, triggering a three-vehicle pile-up that killed a 64-year-old man. Twenty five-year old Sukhdeep Singh has been arrested by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. This is the fourth crash involving Indians, including three Sikh drivers, in six months in which nine people have lost their lives. Additionally, the US Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy announced that all truckers and pass drivers will have to take their Commercial Driver's License tests in English as the US President Donald Trump administration expands its aggressive campaign to improve safety in the industry and get ‘unqualified’ drivers off the road. Meanwhile in Canada, nearly 2.9M temporary resident permits, including of many Panjabis, expired throughout 2025 and 2026 across various streams, including work permits and post‑graduation work authorizations. Temporary residents in Canada are calling on the government to extend work permits and grant them a fair chance to remain in the country. They argue that they have contributed to Canada’s economy and communities and are asking the government why they are being forced to leave after years of work and study. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has acknowledged processing backlogs and is under pressure to balance public concerns with policy goals, but no major national extension plan has been announced so far. Simultaneously in Australia, 22-year-old Sikh nurse Harmanpreet Singh was left with a broken nose after an alleged racially motivated attack outside a gym in Corio, Geelong on 17 Feb. Harmanpreet said he was confronted by three men while leaving his gym and beaten up. He said the harassment began while he was still training, and that the trio was waiting for him outside the gym. In a video of the confrontation, one man can be seen hurling racial slurs at Harmanpreet, calling him an 'Indian dog' (earlier coverage).