An illegal immigrant from India who killed three people in a Southern California semi-truck crash was sentenced Tuesday to four years and eight months in prison, less than half the maximum sentence he faced.
Jashanpreet Singh, 21, faced up to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to three felony counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence in connection with the October 2025 crash.
Singh illegally crossed the U.S. border in March 2022 and was released into the country by the Biden administration after being apprehended by Border Patrol, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Dramatic dashcam footage captured Singh’s semi-truck barreling into stopped traffic on Interstate 10 in Ontario, California, triggering an eight-vehicle pileup that killed three people and injured four others, The Daily Wire reported.
🚨SICKENING🚨
An illegal alien was sentenced to ONLY 4 years 8 months in prison for KILLING 3 people in a horrific 8-vehicle pileup on SoCal’s 10 Freeway.
Jashanpreet Singh was under the influence of drugs when he plowed a semi into slowed traffic with no attempt to stop or… pic.twitter.com/z0k8YNt8MZ
— Breanna Morello (@BreannaMorello) July 15, 2026
“It didn’t stop. It didn’t swerve. It didn’t make any kind of maneuvers. It just went straight in,” eyewitness Jason Calmelat told NBC4.
Although the Indian national was initially arrested under suspicion of DUI, toxicology reports came back negative for drugs or alcohol, according to CBS News. An investigation from the California Highway Patrol found that Singh failed to stop his truck before plowing into traffic.
The judge cited Singh’s age and the absence of evidence that he was using a cellphone at the time of the crash in imposing the lighter sentence, according to NBC4.
The case became a flashpoint in the Trump administration’s effort to prevent illegal immigrants from obtaining commercial driver’s licenses.
“It is a terrible tragedy three innocent people lost their lives due to the reckless open border policies that allowed an illegal alien to be released into the U.S. and drive an 18-wheeler on America’s highways,” former Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said at the time. “This accident follows a disturbing trend of illegal aliens driving 18-wheelers and semi-trucks on America’s roads.”
San Bernardino County District Attorney Jason Anderson said Singh should never have been in the country.
“Had the rule of law been followed by State and Federal officials, the defendant should have never been in California at all,” he said.