TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WFLA) — A new bill in the state Legislature aims to ban immigrants without proper legal status from driving commercial vehicles.
The bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Don Gates (R-Crestview), wants to create harsher penalties for immigrant commercial drivers who are in the U.S. illegally and the companies that employ them.
According to Senate Bill 86, an “illegal immigrant” driving a commercial vehicle could be turned over to federal immigration officials and the company that owns the vehicle could be banned from leaving Florida.
“We want to make sure that people who put illegal drivers in the driver’s seat can no longer do business in Florida,” Gates said.
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The bill was introduced in the aftermath of a fatal accident that claimed the lives of three people in August of this year.
The Florida Highway Patrol said Harijinder Singh was driving a semi-truck on the Florida Turnpike when he attempted an illegal U-turn. Investigators later revealed that the suspect entered the country illegally in California in 2018 before obtaining a commercial driver’s license.
The incident sparked a national debate and prompted federal action to make it harder for non-U.S. citizens to obtain a CDL.
Florida Attorney General James Usmayer previously filed a lawsuit against California Governor Gavin Newsom and the state over its protection policies for immigrants living in the United States illegally.
“The people and entities that I’m really angry about are the trucking companies that hired him, or the transit agencies and leasing companies that put him in the driver’s seat when they didn’t know what he was doing, and they knew he didn’t know what he was doing,” Gates said.
And as debate continues on the national stage, Democrats say such bills are not the right steps to take to solve the immigration crisis.
“Americans see what President Trump’s immigration policies are doing, and they don’t like when masked ICE agents pick up parents outside of schools. They don’t like when hard-working neighbors are taken away with little warning or due process,” said State Representative Fentris Driskel.
Gaetz said he expects a robust debate on the issue this Congress, but believes there is legislation that can be championed in partnership with law enforcement.
“I think this issue should be discussed, it should be aired, it should be passed,” Gates said.
