TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (CBS12) — Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has announced a lawsuit against California and Washington State, claiming that their policies enabling illegal immigrants to obtain commercial driver’s licenses are unconstitutional and pose a public safety threat.
This lawsuit comes in the wake of a crash on the Turnpike in St. Lucie County a few months ago, where an illegal immigrant named Harjinder Singh, allegedly driving without the ability to read road signs or understand English, made an illegal U-turn, resulting in a crash that killed three Haitian-Americans living in the U.S. under temporary protected status.
Singh possessed commercial driver’s licenses from both California and Washington, which were obtainable due to California’s policy of granting licenses to undocumented individuals, per officials.
Uthmeier stated that the California Values Act, which prohibits licensing agencies from inquiring about an individual’s immigration status, directly contributed to this accident.
See also: New federal rules tighten who can drive America’s big rigs
Furthermore, Uthmeier is criticizing the sanctuary policies in California, asserting that they endanger the lives of American citizens by handing out driver’s licenses and other benefits that encourage illegal immigration and further allowing “unsafe drivers on the road who don’t know English behind the wheel of 40-ton trucks.”
Uthmeier announced the lawsuit on X on Wednesday night and followed up on Thursday morning with an outline of the reasons he wants to follow this through.
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