The Daily Signal - Victor Davis Hanson: California Gives Illegal Truck Driver a License—3 Americans Pay the Price  

Episode Date: August 21, 2025

Recently, an illegal alien pulled an illegal U-turn on the Florida Turnpike, resulting in a crash that killed three innocent people. The man, identified as Harjinder Singh, was issued a driver’s license by the state of California despite failing basic questions on his driver’s test.    Victor Davis Hanson explains how California’s refusal to enforce immigration law and its dangerous trucking conditions create chaos on the roads—and why these failures don’t stay contained within the state’s borders—on today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words.” “ What was very disturbing was the expression on Mr. Singh's face. It was calm. He looked around. It was almost as if, ‘Oh. I made a U-turn. Somebody hit my truck. I wonder what happened?’ He didn't get out and try to help anybody. He stood at the side of the road, finally. But why was he driving? He was driving because California issued him a license when they knew he was an unlawful resident of the United States and he was not proficient in English, at least enough to be able to read rudimentary traffic signs and signals. In other words, he killed three people. “This man was not a U.S. citizen. He was not here legally, and he could not read or write English, apparently. And the wages of that, we found out in Florida, were the death of three innocent people. And no remorse. No apologies on the part of California or Gavin Newsom. Bottom line: California is dangerous to itself, in a myriad of ways, but it's also dangerous to everybody outside of California because its pathologies are not contained within its borders.” 👉Don’t miss out on Victor’s latest videos by subscribing to The Daily Signal today. You’ll be notified every time a new piece of content drops: https://www.youtube.com/dailysignal?sub_confirmation=1    👉If you can’t get enough of Victor Davis Hanson from The Daily Signal, subscribe to his official YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@victordavishanson7273    👉He’s also the host of “The Victor Davis Hanson Show,” available wherever you prefer to watch or listen. Links to the show and exclusive content are available on his website: https://victorhanson.com  (0:00) Tragic Incident Involving Illegal Alien
 (1:01) California's Infrastructure Issues
 (2:22) Revisiting the Incident (5:10) Broader Impact of California's Policies
 (6:36) Conclusion Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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We'd love to talk. Business. An illegal alien, a Mr. Singh from India, crossed over into the United States illegally in 2018, and he was ordered to leave. He ignored that during the Biden administration. He was issued a work permit that was revoked by the Trump administration. He could not read or speak English. Essentially could only identify one or two traffic signs, and so the inevitable happened.

Two people were killed instantly. The third died in the hospital. Gavin Newsom's California issued this man a driver's license. This man was not a U.S. citizen. He was not here legally. And the wages of that we found out in Florida with a death of three innocent people and no remorse, no apologies on the part of California or by Gavin Newsom. Hello, this is Victor Davis-Hansson for the Daily Signal.

I each week drive about 400. 125 miles round trip from my farm residence in central California to Stanford University's Hoover institution. And over the last 20 years, I've noticed that it's not just that the California infrastructure has even got much worse as the population has incrementally increased to 41 million people. We have an infrastructure in the 1970s when we had 20 million people, and now we have twice the number of people driving and the infrastructure is even worse than it was 50 years ago. And we may have somewhere around 100 million cars or 140 million cars, the estimates range, in California Register.

But what I'm getting at is this. It's very dangerous now to drive on California freeways. They're either two lanes or three lanes maximum. And we've had a new trend where truck drivers. will get in the middle lane on a three-lane freeway and just stay there and then you have two lanes of solid truck traffic and only one lane in the left if it's three lanes for cars and the truck drivers seem not to be as respectful of traffic as in the past I bring this up because an illegal alien a mr. Singh from India crossed over into the United States illegally in 2018 and he He was ordered to leave. He ignored that during the Biden administration.

He was issued a work permit that was revoked by the Trump administration later when it came in. But that's controversial, but what is not controversial, Mr. Singh, who could not read or speak English, essentially could only identify one or two traffic signs for some reason was going. given a work permit, but more importantly, he was given a California driver's license, even though he was known to be an illegal alien and not proficient in English. And California thinks that as the home of the most illegal aliens in the country, a state in which 27% of the people were not born in the United States, and it has the largest sanctuary city infrastructure where they do not comply with ICE requests to deport criminal illegal aliens,

that it's unique and it's self-contained. It's not people that it grants licenses to or residents to who are here illegally and are not familiar with traffic laws. They go all over the United States. So what happened this past week, Mr. Singh was driving a semi-truck in Florida. And for some reason, he decided, major thoroughfare that he was just going to make a U-turn and cut across the divider and go in the opposite direction in the middle of fast-moving traffic. And so the inevitable happened. As he is making this turn, his own camera shows him nonchalantly looking around as a car has no choice but to hit his semi-trailers.

And two people were killed instantly. The third died in the hospital. What was very disturbing was the expression on Mr. Singh's face. It was calm. He looked around. It was almost as if, oh, I made a U-turn. Somebody hit my truck. I wonder what happened.

He didn't get out and try to help anybody. He stood the side of the road, finally. But why was he driving? He was driving because California issued him a license when they knew he was an unlawful resident of the United States and he was not proficient in English, at least enough to be able to read. rudimentary traffic signs and signals. In other words, he killed three people, and he's now

charged with vehicular manslaughter because of the lax policy of California. What I'm getting at is when I drive, I see a lot of drivers like that. I don't know what their immigration status is. I don't know where they're born. All I know is that there are so many trucks on the California freeway. The infrastructure is so poor. And this generation, of truck driver does not abide by the prior courtesies and policies of previous generations of truck drivers, that it makes driving in California an experience like Road Warrior or Mad Max, and the trucks dominate sometimes all the lanes for periods of time in California freeways, and more importantly, they drive outside of California. So Gavin Newsom is in a fight with Donald

Trump back and forth who issued him a temporary work permit. But I think Gavin Newsom, who champions the cause of unlawful immigrants, is going to lose that argument against Donald Trump who tries to deport them. But more importantly, it's beyond controversy. Gavin Newsom's California issued this man a driver's license. This man was not a U.S. citizen. He was not here legally, and he could not read or write English, apparently. And the wages of that we found out in Florida with a death of three innocent people and no remorse, no apologies on the part of California or Gavin Newsom.

Bottom line, California is dangerous to itself in a myriad of ways, but it's also dangerous to everybody outside of California because its pathologies are not contained within its borders. Thank you very much. This is Victor Davis-Hansson for the Daily Signal. Thank you for tuning in to the Daily Signal. Please like, share, and subscribe to be notified for more content like this. You can also check out my own website at victorhansen.com and subscribe for exclusive features in addition.