Uthmeier subpoenas trucking firm employing driver Harjinder Singh

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier issued subpoenas Thursday to the trucking company that employed an allegedly undocumented immigrant accused of killing three Floridians in a traffic accident.

According to the criminal subpoena, White Hawk Carriers Inc., a California company, is compelled to produce documents detailing the citizenship status of all of its licensed drivers as well as all files related to Harjinder Singh.

“We are going to be issuing both criminal and civil subpoenas against White Hawk Carriers,” Uthmeier announced during a Thursday morning press conference in Tampa. “Not only was [Singh] illegally here in the country, but he also did not have the competence, the skill set. There’s no way he went through the proper training in order to get this license.”

Singh, a 28-year-old Indian national, was issued commercial driver’s licenses in Washington state and California despite failing an English proficiency test, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. On Aug. 12, he allegedly made an illegal U-turn on the Florida Turnpike in St. Lucie County in an eighteen-wheeler, killing three in a vehicle that slammed into his rig.

Although the civil subpoena has yet to be issued, Uthmeier’s criminal summons demands White Hawk respond within 20 days. The subpoena enumerates 27 requests of the Ceres, California, company. These include details of White Hawk’s affiliates, identities of their Florida-licensed drivers, how they process and affirm commercial driver’s licence applicants, and records related to Singh’s incident.

The accident has had national ramifications, prompting Secretary of State Marco Rubio to temporarily freeze visas for foreign-born truck drivers and federal authorities to threaten slashed funding for states that don’t enforce English-proficiency standards for commercial truck drivers.

In August, DOT launched a federal investigation into White Hawk Carriers, finding that Singh had failed the mandatory English Language Proficiency assessment required for commercial truckers. Singh provided correct responses to just 2 of 12 verbal questions and only accurately identified 1 of 4 highway traffic signs, the agency said.

White Hawk has had 25 truck-safety violations in its last 24 inspections, and may have lost its ability to do business outside of California, the Miami Herald reported.

Florida on the national stage

Florida has pushed itself center-stage in the Singh-immigration discussion. Singh, who authorities said “fled” to California following the accident, was publicly extradited to the Sunshine State by Lt. Gov. Jay Collins, recently elevated to the position ahead of a contentious GOP gubernatorial primary. Gov. Ron DeSantis has said that law officers let him go because at the time they lacked probable cause to detain him.

Uthmeier, meanwhile, has called upon the federal government to consider permanently banning California and Washington from issuing CDLs.

Florida’s interstate subpoenas are not the first example of Uthmeier taking his hardline, anti-undocumented immigration agenda onto the national stage. In June, he brainstormed Alligator Alcatraz — a brand-new, massive migrant detention center in the Everglades — with the Department of Homeland Security.

President Donald Trump visited the facility, the first of its kind, on its opening day. This inspired DHS to take to states like Indiana and Nebraska to support similarly alliterative replicas, like the “Speedway Slammer” and “Cornhusker Clink.” DeSantis has since floated “Deportation Depot” in Northeast Florida and the “Panhandle Pokey” in West Florida.

A federal judge last month blocked the Everglades facility from accepting more detainees, demanding the center deconstruct by September’s end.

Criminal subpoena: