The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services is “not just looking for agricultural bugs” at its inspection points on highways, but also “drugs and thugs,” the department’s commissioner said Monday.
During a news conference Monday, Attorney General James Uthmeier and Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson focused on the recent immigration-related hot topic, non-domiciled commercial drivers, or nonresidents of the state their driver’s license was issued in.
“If you can’t read street signs, how are you going to drive large commercial vehicles, 18-wheelers, tractor trailers in a safe manner?” Uthmeier said.
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Last week, Lt. Gov. Jay Collins flew to California to extradite Harjinder Singh, an immigrant with a California commercial driver’s license being charged with three counts of vehicular homicide after attempting a U-Turn in a semi-truck on the Florida Turnpike. A minivan crashed into his vehicle, killing three people.
Driver’s licenses from “sanctuary states” “are no good here,” Uthmeier said.
Monday, the attorney general sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, asking the federal government to “decertify California’s and Washington’s CDL [commerial drivers’ license] programs if the audit confirms a pattern or practice of deliberately, recklessly, or negligently issuing CDLs in violation of federal law.”
“The administrative and financial consequences attending to decertification would incentivize offending states to quickly bring themselves into compliance, making all American roadways safer,” Uthmeier wrote.
Following the news of Singh’s arrest, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced a pause in work visas for some truck drivers.
The news conference was staged in Live Oak at an agricultural interdiction point on Interstate 10.
“Our goal is to continue to ramp up our encounters here at the interdiction stations and make sure we’re getting these guys off the road,” Simpson said, adding that all sworn state agricultural law enforcement officers are deputized by the federal government to enforce immigration laws.
Last week, Florida Highway Patrol and federal officials focused on Panhandle immigration enforcement, announcing nearly 200 people apprehended over three days.
“There’s no telling how many illegal aliens are in this country driving large commercial vehicles and putting American families in a safety risk every single day,” Uthmeier said.
Simpson said the state will enforce President Donald Trump’s executive order, signed earlier this year, in which the president said, “Proficiency in English … should be a non-negotiable safety requirement for professional drivers,” among other expectations of truck drivers under federal law.
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