Running a red light has landed Indian truck driver Sukhdeep Singh at risk of deportation from US after authorities found he was in the country illegally.A routine traffic stop in Arizona turned serious when local police pulled over Singh for allegedly running a red light and a stop sign. According to authorities, Singh is an Indian national who was unlawfully present in US. This was confirmed by agents from the Border Patrol after running a brief check, even though Singh had a California commercial driver’s licence.He was taken into custody in the town of Quartzsite and is now being processed for deportation under 8 USC 1182, the section of US immigration law dealing with inadmissible non-citizens.
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The United States Border Patrol, Yuma Sector, confirmed the incident in a post on X: “Quartzsite police pulled over Sukhdeep Singh after he ran a red light and a stop sign. Officers contacted Blythe Station Border Patrol agents who determined Singh is an Indian national that was illegally in the United States, despite being in possession of California commercial driver’s license. Singh will be processed for deportation under 8 USC 1182. “Border Patrol officials said Singh’s case is not the only one that involves commercial truck drivers without legal immigration status present in US. Earlier operations by agents at the Blythe Station led to the arrest of six undocumented Indian nationals in separate incidents. In each case, the individuals were working as truck drivers and held commercial driving licences despite being in the country unlawfully.It was reported that all six were processed for deportation, and later lost the opportunity to legally re-enter the United States.Authorities also advised the undocumented individuals to voluntarily self-deport using the CBP Home app. This option allows people to leave the country on their own and may help preserve their eligibility to legally return to US in the future.For the last few months, California has been facing federal scrutiny for issuing thousands of commercial driver’s licences to non-citizens, including some without lawful status, in apparent violation of federal rules. The US Department of Transportation has revoked about 17,000 licences, withheld funding and tightened eligibility, saying states must verify immigration status for commercial licences. Most of the truck drivers are from India. The Trump administration blames the Biden-era rules that allegedly allowed thousands of immigrant truck drivers to attain a commercial license without proper english proficiency and formal legal procedures.
