Sikh truckers see spike in anti-immigrant vitriol after deadly Florida crash
Members of California’s Sikh trucking community say a deadly crash involving one of its own, which triggered heated national debates over immigration, has led to a spike in anti-Sikh rhetoric.
On Aug. 12, Harjinder Singh, an India-born truck driver, made a U-turn on the Florida Turnpike that authorities say caused a crash that killed three people. The crash and subsequent investigations stirred arguments between Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.monotheistic religion, who often covet high-paying trucking jobs that allow Sikh men to wear beards, uncut hair and turbans.
“There are a lot of negative comments online,” said Prahb Singh, a truck driver in Riverside, California, who isn’t related to the driver.
None of the people named in this story are in the same family; Singh is a common last name among Sikhs.of this before a judge gives a sentence. It was a mistake by a driver, not the whole community.”Estimates of the Sikh population in the US range up to 750,000, with the largest concentration in California. Many work in the trucking industry and related businesses, including restaurants and trucking schools along major routes.
“I’ve been talking to a lot of truck drivers, and they’ve been saying, ‘People look at us different now,’” said Sukhpreet Waraich, a trucker who owns an interstate freight carrier in Fontana, California.I’ve been driving since 2019. I haven’t got a single ticket,” Waraich said.
The North American Punjabi Truckers Association estimates that the Sikh workforce makes up about 40% of truck driving on the West Coast and about 20% nationwide. No official figures exist, CEO Raman Dhillon said, but advocacy groups estimate about 150,000 Sikh truck drivers work in the US That number could be as high as 250,000, given the high demand for drivers post-pandemic, he said.DeSantis sent Florida’s lieutenant governor to California to oversee the handover of the truck driver, saying Singh should never have been behind the wheel and calling him a “thug.”
“The sheriff’s job is done by the lieutenant governor,” whose name calling “was very low,” Dhillon said.
Others in the Sikh trucking industry worry about becoming scapegoats in the country’s bitter fight over immigration.
“This is a tragedy; it was an accident, and every Punjabi, every Sikh, feels for the victims’ family,” said Harsimran Singh, CEO of Gillson Trucking in Stockton, California, who is not related to the driver.
Since the fatal crash, the association has received numerous reports of Sikh drivers being harassed. In one instance, Dhillon said, a Sikh man was ejected from an Oklahoma truck
A father of three and his family’s breadwinner, he worries about being unfairly targeted. Like other Sikhs, he lamented the Florida crash, calling it a tragedy. But he hopes the
“People are saying: ‘Take the towel heads off the streets’ and ’Make our roads safe by taking immigrants off the street,” said Singh, a US
It also sparked online vitriol denigrating members of the