No more work visas for truckers in US

The US has stopped issuing worker visas for commercial truck drivers with immediate effect, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Thursday.

The move came after a truck driver from India was charged with killing three persons on a highway in Florida while allegedly making an illegal U-turn. The driver, Harjinder Singh, allegedly entered the US illegally from Mexico and failed an English examination after the crash, according to reports by news agencies.

“The increasing number of foreign drivers operating large tractor-trailer trucks on the US roads is endangering American lives and undercutting the livelihoods of American truckers. Effective immediately, we are pausing issuance of all worker visas for commercial truck drivers,” Rubio posted on X.

The case has gathered wide attention, with the Florida Lieutenant Governor flying to California alongside immigration agents to extradite Harjinder personally.

The crash has taken political dimension in the US as Harjinder received his commercial licence and lived in California, which is run by the rival Democratic Party and opposes President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigrants. The Trump administration has attacked California Governor Gavin Newsom for issuing a licence to Harjinder. Newsom’s office responded that the federal government under Trump had issued Harjinder his work permit, and that California cooperated in extraditing him.