President Donald Trump said his administration will “take historic action” to replace what he called “illegal alien truck drivers” with American military veterans, while accusing undocumented truckers of endangering lives on US roads.
Speaking at the Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit on Wednesday, Trump announced a $10 billion defense investment that he said would create 4,000 jobs. During his remarks, he linked the issue of undocumented truck drivers to a recent fatal crash in Pennsylvania and outlined a new plan aimed at veterans.
“They came in totally illegally, and we don’t want them,” Trump said. Using the death of a Pennsylvania state trooper in a semitruck crash involving an immigrant earlier this month, Trump made allegations against undocumented truck drivers.
“But they are driving all over American roadways, and we’re going to replace them with proud American veterans,” he said before adding, “any American who’s driven a heavy truck for our military will automatically be eligible for a commercial driver’s license.”
Defense summit brings together top industry leaders
The two-day Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit brought together senior administration officials and leaders from the defense and technology industries. Among those attending were Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Pennsylvania Sen. Dave McCormick, Boeing President and CEO Kelly Ortberg, and Lockheed Martin Chairman and CEO Jim Taiclet.
Trump officials criticise California sentence in truck crash case
Trump’s statements came as members of his administration sharply criticized the prison sentence handed to an undocumented immigrant truck driver convicted in a deadly California crash. On Tuesday, 21-year-old Indian national Jashanpreet Singh was sentenced to four years and eight months in prison after pleading guilty to three felony counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence. The charges stemmed from an October 2025 crash on Interstate 10 in San Bernardino County, where Singh’s semitruck crashed into slow-moving traffic, killing three people and injuring several others. Dashcam footage showed that the truck never applied its brakes before impact.Federal authorities have said Singh was in the United States illegally.
Duffy and DHS call sentence a ‘slap on the wrist’
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy condemned the sentence, saying it was too lenient. “5 years is a slap on the wrist for KILLING 3 AMERICANS,” Duffy told Fox news. “If California followed the rules, illegal aliens like Jashanpreet Singh wouldn’t be driving 80,000 pound missiles down our roads. We won’t stop until ALL illegal truckers are put out of business and held accountable.”
The Department of Homeland Security also criticised the ruling. “Despite taking the lives of 3 people in a horrific eight-vehicle crash, criminal illegal alien Jashanpreet Singh was given a SLAP ON THE WRIST prison sentence of less than 5 years in sanctuary California,” DHS said. “Illegal aliens like this killer should NEVER be allowed behind the wheel or on our nation’s roads. ICE stands ready to arrest Singh upon his release so he is never allowed back on our roads to take another innocent life.”
Officials question California’s licensing process
According to federal authorities, Singh crossed the US-Mexico border through California’s El Centro Sector in March 2022 and was released into the United States under the Biden administration while awaiting an immigration hearing.
He later obtained a California commercial driver’s license in June 2025, according to the Department of Transportation.
Federal officials had earlier warned California about compliance issues involving commercial driver’s licenses. They instructed the state to stop issuing new licenses to non-citizens temporarily and review existing licenses to ensure they met federal requirements.
Federal officials have also said Singh should have been disqualified under an emergency Department of Transportation policy, while California officials maintained that he qualified based on federally approved employment authorization documents.