US Illegal Immigrant Truck Driver Harjinder Singh Gains Sympathy

After the 12 Aug accident in which 28-year-old Harjinder Singh, an illegal immigrant to the US, made an illegal U-turn on Florida’s Turnpike that claimed three lives, on 21 Aug, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the US is stopping work visas for commercial truck drivers. Though the decision affects all nationalities, the Sikhs who make up around 20% of US truck drivers are particularly affected. There are around 150K Sikh truck drivers in the US and according to the American Trucking Association, the industry still faces a shortage of more than 60K truck drivers. Harjinder's brother Tejinder from Tarn Taran said, 'We are sorry for the three deaths in the accident. He made a mistake, but it wasn’t an intentional crime. He can be punished for the mistake, but it shouldn’t be treated as if he intended to kill.' The Sikh community worldwide has started a petition to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and the Florida Board of Executive Clemency to consider the deaths were from an accident and not a deliberate act. As of now the petition has 2.8M signatories. Another worry is Harjinder's wrong turn could result in no more US work visas for Panjab's truckers whose income is a major line of remittances for Panjab. Panjab’s minister for Non Resident Indians Sanjeev Arora wrote to the Indian union govt about the US govt's decision which has put the livelihood of Panjabi drivers at risk. Former union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal of the Shiromani Akali Dal wrote to India's External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar that one tragic accident involving a Panjabi driver should not lead to mass action against the entire community. However, given the current downturn in India-US relationship, it is not clear how much India is willing to push the US on the issue. In the US, the Sikh Coalition has also made an appeal to not stereotype all truck drivers, raised objections to Harjinder appearing in court without his turban and cautioned against fake campaigns seeking funding in the case (earlier coverage).