30 Indians among 100 illegal immigrant truckers arrested in California
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An Operation Highway Sentinel was launched in direct response to growing concerns that criminal illegal aliens driving commercial vehicles on US roads caused multiple fatal accidents.
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WASHINGTON, Dec 25: Over 100 illegal truckers with commercial driving licences
(CDLs) have been arrested on California highways by the US Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) in the past few days following deadly crashes across multiple
States linked to illegal immigrant drivers recently. Thirty of them are Indian
nationals.
The 100 arrested in an Operation Highway Sentinel included illegal aliens from
India, Mexico, Colombia, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Nicaragua, Russia, Georgia, Venezuela,
El Salvador and Honduras.
The ICE said in a press release that Operation Highway Sentinel was launched
in direct response to growing concerns that criminal illegal aliens driving
commercial vehicles on US roads caused multiple fatal accidents in States like
California, Florida and Oregon, claiming "eight innocent lives."
The arrests included 49 illegal immigrants in the El Centro Sector in California
during vehicle stops at checkpoints by border patrol agents of Customs and Border
Protection (CBP).
The ICE accused California, under Newsom’s leadership, of issuing thousands
of CDLs to illegal aliens, some of whom could not read English or understand
road signs.
The California Department of Motor Vehicles recently notified at least 17,000
foreign truck drivers that their licences were being revoked because their work
authorization documents expired, violating State law requiring CDLs to match
legal presence status. The licences are slated for formal cancellation around
January 5. Most of the affected are Sikhs from India.
Federal authorities said the operation was launched earlier in December, following
multiple deadly crashes involving commercial trucks driven by unauthorized immigrants
who were licensed in California.
Similar operations also took place in New York and Oklahoma, along with 'Operation
Midway Blitz' in Indiana, which resulted in over 200 arrests, including 146
truck drivers, 50 of whom had CDLs issued by different States, it was reported.
Fatal accidents
Indian truck drivers in California are a significant part of the workforce,
facing both high demand and recent intense scrutiny due to high-profile, fatal
crashes involving undocumented drivers like Jashanpreet Singh, leading to increased
focus on immigration status, licensing, and enforcement, with recent operations
targeting undocumented drivers and ongoing concerns about safety and legal status
in the industry.
The 21-year-old Indian national, Jashanpreet Singh, was involved in a deadly
crash in California in October sparking major controversy as he was found to
be undocumented and allegedly driving recklessly.
Singh had crossed the border illegally in 2022 and was released under an "alternatives
to detention" policy, highlighting concerns about illegal immigrants driving
commercial trucks.
Following a similar fatal crash in Florida last August, there were calls to
pause commercial truck driver work visas for foreign nationals. Harjinder Singh,
an Indian national, allegedly killed three people while trying to make an illegal
U-turn in Florida over the summer.
While many Indian nationals work legally in the US trucking industry, these
incidents focus on the dangers and legal issues surrounding those without proper
status or licenses.
Demand for drivers
The US trucking industry has a strong demand for drivers, with California offering
good earning potential.
Many Sikh men are prominent in the trucking industry, facing unique challenges
and stereotypes, with past incidents leading to anti-Sikh rhetoric.
On the one hand there is strong job market needs and on the other is critical
immigration enforcement and safety concerns.
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SELECTIONS FROM OUR ARCHIVES |
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Top Govt officer thrashed, kicked inside Bhubaneswar office: Incident sparks a debate
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The incident has triggered a debate on social media whether the officer refused to take orders from a party leader or he was accused of any corruption, some netizens justifying the handling in either case, that Ratnakar was blocking public welfare work! It is true the Govt machinery has been the enemy Number One of the people of this country, existing for itself and for these politicians, for well over seven decades. India will never make an inch of progress - real progress, not make-believe-progress - unless and until this machinery is eliminated.
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UK's House of Commons votes to legalise assisted dying: What it means | |
ANALYSIS: There have been cases of Britons going to Switzerland to get rid of a miserable life. Now once the House of Lords also passes the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, terminally ill Britons can call it quits with the help of a medical practitioner here itself. But the measure when comes into practice, will have very serious social consequences, it is feared. There won't be comparisons, even as tropes in Latin American folklores. The worst case scenario is of those who are not terminally ill also trying to misuse the provision to leave this world early when life with dignity is not available. But that is, in fact, a political question and not a moral imbroglio!
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What caused Air India Boeing 787 crash? Some questions, some answers | |
The CCTV footage and the video circulating on social media do not indicate any serious abnormalities in takeoff or descent, it has been confirmed. The disaster is becoming curiouser and curiouser. The flight path was not curvy. And the aircraft maintained a steady, gliding descent with its nose straight and the wings perfectly level. The pilot's distress call does not specify what prevented lift and climb-out. Here are some expert opinions. The sole purpose is to raise travellers' awareness about air travel.
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Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla line brings Kashmir Valley on India's rail map |
- The Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla line provides Kashmir with all-weather connectivity and integrates the Valley with the rest of India.
- The saying 'Kashmir to Kanyakumari' is now a dream come true.
- The Chenab bridge on the line, an engineering marvel, is the world's highest
railway bridge, taller than the Eiffel Tower. (Video: File)
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Work done, Elon Musk steps down from DOGE, leaves White House | |
Musk wrote: "My scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end... The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government." Now on it will be on auto-pilot.
PROGNOSIS: DOGE was prematurely born to protect the country by aborting an impending socio-economic disaster which very few people could see coming.
Although its immediate job was to save American taxpayers billions by slashing waste, eliminating fraud, cutting Government bloat and ensuring utmost efficiency in administration for the good of the people.
(Today's headlines )
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Ailing Asiatic lion Pataudi too dies of bird flu at Kanpur zoo
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Originally from Junagadh, Gujarat, Pataudi was relocated to Etawah Lion Safari in September 2019 before being transferred to Gorakhpur Zoo in 2021. Recently it was receiving treatment for pancreatic and liver infections. After tigress Shakti died in the zoo on May 7 due to bird flu, Pataudi was shifted to Kanpur. Some birds are also reported to have died mysteriously around Gorakhpur. All zoos in UP are closed for fear of a bird flu outbreak.
Three other animals too had died - a tiger, a leopardess and a female wolf. Wolf Bhairavi died last Saturday, leopardess Mona died the Thursday before that and tiger Kesari died on March 30. Some of them had Shakti's symptoms but the cause of death has not been confirmed yet.
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48 tourist destinations closed in Kashmir following Pahalgam terror attack
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As tourist inflow is an indicator of normalcy returning to an erstwhile terrorist infested Valley, the Government has been trying hard to make everything travel-friendly, launching lot many projects and bringing Kashmir on the national rail map that physically completes the process of Kashmir's integration with the rest of India. And that defeats the designs of Pakistan eyeing Kashmir and simply explains a recrudescence of terrorism in J&K.
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Trump slaps ‘kind’, ‘reciprocal’ tariffs on trading partners; a 'lenient' 26% on India!
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ANALYSIS: There is a lot of hue and cry around the world over Trump's tariffs. But tariff, simply put, is a tax. But unlike tax, it affects the exporting country too. Domestic prices will go up for some time. Nothing more will happen, good or bad!
What motivated Trump's newfound policy, apart from being a stunt to justify his existence in the White House, is a false realisation that increased tariff will make foreign goods prohibitive, thereby boosting local production, and create more jobs, and more prosperity will ring in! If that is true, India would have been shining by now: Producing own Rolls-Royce La Rose Noire Droptail and Scotch Whiskies! And what about coconut and palm oil by America!
(Today's headlines )
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Trump signs order to shut Education Dept - And the contrast with India
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PROGNOSIS: It looks a Real New Trump is emerging - courageous, balanced, powerful and disinterested. Determined to save his country from the cliff, he has done quite a few draconian things that will reduce the burden of debts of the Federal entity, like the golden handshake, stopping senseless funding, pulling out of a worthless WHO. Shutting the Education Department is another. On the other hand, running it is also not the Centre's job either (We will convincingly elaborate it in the next chapter).
In India the scene is just the opposite. Centralisation is the core agenda and identity of the ruling dispensation without which it has no existence, or in other words, it exists for that set of schemes only. A realisation of this never dawned upon any Opposition party in 2014 or any time thereafter, what to talk of being able to see it coming 70 years ago! The consequence of all this violation of basic natural law of the universe we cannot predict.
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Sunita, Wilmore's Dragon splashes down in Gulf: What delayed their return? |
THE AMERICAN CONUNDRUM: Political venom has migrated to top echelons in the US. It was reported last year NASA has become politicised, vitiated. But NASA refuted the charge. How Boeing developed a glitch but its unmanned return was smooth. When Suni-Wilmore were stranded last June, why the return was set for February? Because that comes only after January 20! SpaceX called the shots, for itself and for Trump. Then the mission was manipulated for March for a better bargain! In between, what made Elon Musk 'predict' during campaign if Kamala Harris wins he would be in jail. In politics, it is said, "the only rule is there are no rules." Difficult times for Americans too.
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All 80k health workers in US offered $25,000 voluntary buyout: Administering wrong prescriptions!
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The terminations are part of a large-scale exercise going on all across Fed departments and organisations to reduce wasteful Government expenditure as decided by a Trump in a mess gone berserk, and improve administrative efficiency following the whims of billionaire and his associate Elon MusK and his DOGE. It has not been shared how terminations are going to raise the efficiency bar! It looks like Trump has stolen some of the prescriptions meant for India. But the American problems are quite different.
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Visit Indian Travel Sites
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