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Federal and local authorities in Indiana have arrested 223 illegal immigrants in a recent law enforcement operation, including 146 semi-truck drivers, as part of an effort to remove foreigners who shouldn’t be licensed to operate commercial trucks on U.S. roadways.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the arrests Thursday during a news conference in Gary, Indiana.
“If you are here driving on our streets and highways illegally, you are endangering our citizens, and your days are numbered,” Noem said. “Too many families across this country have felt pain, been victimized, and lost loved ones because of these illegal drivers.”
“We don’t want any of these individuals on our roads or in our communities, and we especially don’t want them behind the wheel of an 18-wheeler when they can’t speak our language, don’t understand our laws, can’t follow roadway signs, and can’t interact with law enforcement or our citizens,” she added.
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Noem said many of those arrested received their commercial driver’s licenses, or CDLs, in other states, but the majority came from sanctuary jurisdictions in California, Illinois and New York.
Of the 223 arrests, 146 were truck drivers, said Todd Lyons, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). He said many of the drivers have criminal histories involving drug trafficking, assault and battery, drunk driving, child abuse, rape, domestic violence, fraud and prostitution.
The arrests were part of Operation Midway Blitz, a Trump administration initiative launched last month in honor of Katie Abraham, who was killed in a drunk driving hit-and-run allegedly caused by Julio Cucul-Bol, an illegal immigrant from Guatemala.
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The Department of Homeland Security said the goal of the operation was to “target criminal illegal aliens terrorizing Americans in sanctuary Illinois.”
“Millions of pounds of freight move on the highways every day for the Indiana State Police,” said Indiana State Police Secretary Anthony Scott. “This is not about immigration status alone. It’s about public safety. And 80,000-pound trucks in untrained hands are a dangerous thing.”
Concerns over issuing CDLs to illegal immigrants have intensified following a series of deadly crashes involving drivers who could not speak or read English or communicate with law enforcement.
One illegal immigrant truck driver accused of causing a crash in Florida that killed three people failed his CDL test 10 times in two months before finally receiving a license in 2023 in Washington state. Harjinder Singh, who allegedly crossed the southern border illegally in 2018, is accused of causing the August crash in Fort Pierce, Florida.
In California, an asylum seeker driving a semi-truck was involved in a crash earlier this month that killed three people.
California issued a CDL to Jashanpreet Singh on June 27, according to federal records. A Department of Transportation audit on Sept. 26 flagged “significant compliance failures” in the state’s licensing process, yet on Oct. 15, officials reportedly upgraded the driver’s license despite federal restrictions.
“It’s unconscionable that illegal aliens have CDLs and are driving 18-wheelers across our nation,” Lyons said. “Just because some sanctuary cities want to gamble with motorists’ lives and let these dangerous people on the roads driving dangerous vehicles.”
In addition to Indiana, Noem said a similar operation in Oklahoma has resulted in the arrest of more than 250 illegal immigrant truck drivers.
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