Illegal migrant trucker gets support from 2.2 million in Change.org petition

More than two million people have signed a petition calling for leniency an Indian illegal migrant trucker accused of killing three people in a crash in Florida.

Harjinder Singh, 28, faces three charges of vehicular homicide and up to 45 years in prison after he allegedly an illegal U-turn on the Florida Turnpike on Aug. 12 while driving a tractor trailer — six years after he entered the US illegally.

Since his arrest in California, a Change.org petition calling for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to commute Singh’s sentence if he gets convicted has been signed 2.2 million times as of Sunday morning.

“This was a tragic accident — not a deliberate act. While accountability matters, the severity of the charges against him does not align with the circumstances of the incident,” the petition reads.

Manisha Kaushal, the creator of the petition, signed it “Collective Punjabi youth,” and many of the commenters in support appear to be Indian nationals.

“It was an accident. he made a terrible mistake, not a deliberate choice to harm anyone. He was working hard to support his family, like so many of us, and one wrong decision changed everything. A 45-year prison sentence is not justice,” one commenter, Marvi, based in Sydney, Australia, wrote.

“45 yrs of imprisonment?? is it fair for a young boy who left his home country to have bright future, support family???” a second user based in Mississauga, Ontario, wrote.

Singh’s family in his home village in India’s Punjab region have also spoken out since news of his arrest, calling for him to get a more lenient sentence.

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Here is the latest on the illegal immigrant truck driver who killed three people

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“His age is 28 years, and if he gets 45 years of jail, then you can imagine what will be the condition of his family,” relative Dilbagh Singh told the Times of India, speaking from the village of Rataul, close to the Pakistani border.

Indian politicians have also weighed into the controversy, after Secretary of State Marco Rubio froze commercial truck driver visas in the wake of the deadly crash.

Following Rubio’s announcement that foreign drivers were “endangering American lives and undercutting the livelihoods of American truckers,” an Indian member of parliament said the move would unfairly target the Punjabi community.

“Punjabi and Sikh drivers make up 20% of the United States’ trucking industry. Any mass-level action against them would have a detrimental effect on trucking families and would be discriminatory,” Harsimrat Kaur Badal, a lawmaker for the Punjabi-nationalist party Shiromani Akali Dal told the Times of India.

Singh fled to California after the crash, but was arrested by US Marshals and brought back to Florida to face trial.

Under Florida law, each count of vehicular homicide carries a 15-year sentence, meaning Singh could be sentenced to 45 years in prison.

Singh entered the US illegally in 2018 after mortgaging his land in India, records show.

At the time, he was detained by the Border Patrol and released on a $5,000 bond, and his immigration case was still pending at the time of the deadly crash.

He claimed to an immigration judge a significant fear of violence if he went back to India and was granted leave to stay and work in the US while his case worked its way through the courts.

The Department of Homeland Security has described Singh as “a significant threat to public safety” due to the seriousness of the crash and denied him bond on Saturday.