A fatal multi-vehicle pileup near Lodi, California, has triggered a sharp response from federal officials after an undocumented immigrant operating a semi-truck allegedly caused the wreck and tried to flee the scene. The Department of Homeland Security announced that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has lodged an immigration detainer with California authorities to prevent the suspect’s release.
The California Highway Patrol arrested Manvir Singh, a citizen of India, following the May 19 incident. Investigators state that Singh was driving a semi-truck when it veered off the road and struck a guardrail, triggering a chain-reaction crash involving three other vehicles. Two people were killed instantly.
Singh allegedly attempted to flee on foot before officers apprehended him. He now faces serious charges, including vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, hit-and-run resulting in death or injury, and resisting a police officer.
Federal records show that Singh entered the United States illegally through Arizona in July 2023 and was subsequently released into the country. The incident has intensified a mounting federal debate regarding states issuing Commercial Driver’s Licenses to undocumented individuals.
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“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,” said Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis in an official statement. “He is now charged with vehicular manslaughter, hit and run resulting in death or injury, and resisting a police officer. This is yet another example of why illegal aliens should not be operating trucks on American highways. We need Congress to pass Dalilah’s Law to prohibit states from granting illegal aliens commercial driver’s licenses.”
The proposed federal legislation, known as Dalilah’s Law, aims to bar any state from granting CDLs to undocumented immigrants. The bill is named after Dalilah Coleman, a young girl who sustained life-altering injuries in a previous collision involving an undocumented driver.
Federal agencies have highlighted a string of similar recent incidents across the country involving non-citizen commercial drivers. In April, ICE agents arrested an undocumented semi-truck driver who had been issued a CDL by California after he was linked to a November 2025 crash in Oregon that killed a honeymooning couple. Oregon sanctuary officials had previously released the driver despite federal hold requests.
Other recent cases cited by authorities include a February head-on collision in Pennsylvania where an undocumented truck driver killed four people in a van, and an August 2025 wreck in St. Lucie County, Florida, where driver Harjinder Singh blocked all highway lanes during an illegal U-turn, instantly killing three people.
Additionally, DHS and the Department of Transportation confirmed that a December crash resulting in an American fatality involved a Chinese national who had entered the country illegally in 2023 and failed a post-accident English proficiency test.
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