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According to federal officials, he eventually settled in California, where state policies allowed him to obtain a commercial driver’s license despite growing concerns from Washington over the state’s handling of non-domiciled CDL approvals.
Everything came crashing down on May 19, when Singh’s semi-truck allegedly jackknifed along Highway 99 near Lodi, smashing into a guardrail and sparking a devastating chain-reaction collision that killed two Americans.
Authorities say Singh fled the scene on foot after the crash.
The California Highway Patrol later captured him nearby, and San Joaquin County prosecutors hit him with multiple serious charges, including vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, felony hit-and-run involving death, and resisting arrest.
Federal immigration authorities quickly placed a detainer on him.
DHS Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis blasted the situation in a statement that instantly fueled national outrage.
“This criminal illegal alien from India should never have been behind the wheel of a semi-truck and allowed to kill two innocent people in a multi-vehicle crash in California.”
The revelation immediately placed California back in the political crosshairs because the state had already been warned repeatedly by the Trump administration over commercial license violations.
For months, Duffy publicly accused Sacramento of ignoring federal transportation safety standards and continuing to issue trucking licenses to individuals lacking proper legal authorization.
According to federal investigators, California became the lone holdout after Washington ordered states to revoke improperly issued non-domiciled CDLs.
In late 2025, Duffy issued an emergency directive demanding states stop providing commercial licenses to individuals without valid work authorization.
Every state reportedly complied.
California did not.
Federal auditors later determined that California had issued more than 20,000 questionable commercial licenses tied to expired or invalid immigration status.
State officials agreed to revoke thousands of those licenses by early January 2026, but the process immediately became mired in controversy after California’s DMV quietly delayed enforcement.
Duffy responded bluntly at the time, posting on social media: “Gavin Newsom is lying.”
The confrontation escalated so dramatically that the federal government reportedly withheld roughly $160 million in California highway funding.
But Newsom’s administration brushed off the backlash, accusing federal officials of trying to score political points.
Now critics say the consequences are piling up in blood.
Federal officials revealed that Manvir Singh is reportedly the fourth truck driver with the surname Singh tied to deadly crashes involving illegal immigrant CDL holders in just the past year.
One earlier case involved Jashanpreet Singh, who allegedly slammed a semi-truck into stopped traffic near Ontario, California, killing three people in 2025 while allegedly impaired by drugs.
Another involved Kamalpreet Singh, who authorities say caused a deadly trucking collision in Washington state.
A third driver, Harjinder Singh, reportedly failed his commercial license exam numerous times and allegedly struggled with English proficiency requirements before later being tied to a fatal Florida trucking crash.
The Department of Homeland Security described the incidents as “a growing trend involving illegal immigrant commercial drivers from India.”
That warning has now become a rallying cry for lawmakers demanding immediate action.
Jim Banks sharply condemned the latest tragedy, saying, “So many innocent lives have been lost because of illegals on our roads. It makes me sick reading about these preventable tragedies.”
Banks has pushed legislation known as the Dalilah Law, named after five-year-old Dalilah Coleman, a child permanently disabled after another crash involving an illegal immigrant truck driver operating with a California CDL.
Critics say California leaders still refuse to acknowledge the full scope of the crisis.
What began as a political dispute over immigration and licensing policy has now become one of the most explosive transportation controversies in America.
Opponents argue California effectively created a pipeline that moved migrants released at the border directly into commercial trucking jobs involving massive 80,000-pound vehicles traveling across American highways.
And despite repeated warnings, audits, and funding penalties, state officials continued fighting federal enforcement efforts.
Duffy summed up the administration’s argument months ago with a statement that has now returned to haunt Sacramento.
“I gave the guidance, Gavin Newsom didn’t follow it, and three people are now dead because he refused to follow the rules.”
After another catastrophic crash and two more lives lost, critics say Californians are being forced to confront a devastating question:
How many more Americans have to die before the state finally changes course?
