TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WFLA) – Florida Attorney General James Usmeyer has filed a federal lawsuit against California and Washington state, claiming the states’ “sanctuary” policies endanger other countries.
The lawsuit follows the arrest of Harjinder Singh, a 28-year-old truck driver from California who authorities say killed three people after making an improper U-turn on the Florida Turnpike in St. Lucie County.
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Singh, who is charged with three counts of vehicular homicide, entered the United States illegally in 2018 and obtained a commercial driver’s license (CDL) in California, authorities said.
Usmeyer alleges in his lawsuit that California and Washington have “abandoned their obligations” in enforcing commercial motor vehicle safety laws, which require applicants to provide proof of citizenship when obtaining a CDL.
Usmeyer alleges that the California Values Act of 2017, which specifically prohibits law enforcement and the DMV from investigating an individual’s immigration status, violates this requirement. Washington adopted a similar law in 2019.
The attorney general said these “sanctuary laws,” as he called them, are causing problems beyond California and Washington. The complaint cites various examples in other states, including a crash in St. Lucie County in August.
According to the complaint, Singh answered two out of 12 questions correctly on the English proficiency test and correctly identified one of four traffic signs. The complaint also states that Singh failed the exam 13 times before being issued a CDL in Washington. The following year, he earned his CDL in California.
“All of this could have been prevented,” Usmayer wrote in the lawsuit. “Under current federal law, this driver should not have received a license from any state to operate a commercial vehicle.”
