Illegal immigrant trucker charged in Washington fatal crash was released into US under Biden—then freed again despite ICE detainer

Washington State Patrol documents show Kamalpreet Singh, 25, was arrested on suspicion of vehicular homicide after a three-vehicle collision Thursday morning near the SR-18 interchange that killed Robert B. Pearson, 29, of Bonney Lake.

Investigators say traffic ahead had stopped when Singh’s Freightliner tractor-trailer failed to slow down and struck a stopped Mazda 3, overriding the car and pushing it underneath a Peterbilt truck. The Mazda’s engine compartment caught fire, and Pearson was pronounced dead at the scene. WSP said the roadway was blocked for nearly seven hours.

A separate statement of probable cause filed through the King County Jail system, obtained by The Ari Hoffman Show on Talk Radio 570 KVI, adds new details: troopers allege Singh made no attempt to brake or take evasive action before impact, and that he falsified his electronic logbook by listing a co-driver who was not present. The document also describes irregular “pings” and missing mileage entries that investigators say could indicate the electronic logbook was disconnected, malfunctioning, or altered, undermining the hours-of-service system designed to prevent fatigued driving. Singh initially told troopers the Mazda rear-ended the truck ahead and that he then struck the Mazda, but later invoked his right to an attorney, according to the filing.

WSP told Hoffman that Singh had a commercial driver’s license issued by the state of California. Despite the seriousness of the charge, Singh was released after bond was set. According to Bill Melugin of Fox News, ICE lodged a detainer requesting that local authorities hold Singh for transfer to federal custody, yet he was still released on $100,000 bond.

The case lands amid growing national scrutiny over commercial trucking enforcement and the licensing pipeline. In recent weeks, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced the removal of nearly 3,000 CDL training providers from FMCSA’s Training Provider Registry for alleged noncompliance, while thousands more were placed on notice as part of a broader effort to root out “CDL mills” and falsified training records. Federal pressure has also intensified on states accused of improperly issuing CDLs, including Washington’s admission that it mistakenly issued hundreds of commercial licenses to noncitizens who did not qualify.

And the crash adds to a widening list of high-profile cases involving illegal immigrant truck drivers. Those include the fatal Florida wreck allegedly caused by Harjinder Singh that killed 3 people, the Southern California I-10 inferno involving Jashanpreet Singh that killed 2 people, and the Oregon crash involving Rajinder Kumar, each raising fresh questions about immigration enforcement, work authorization, and who is being allowed behind the wheel of heavy commercial vehicles.

DHS has also said its law enforcement components have arrested hundreds of illegal aliens driving commercial vehicles despite having no legal status, including 146 illegal alien truck drivers in a 287(g) operation announced by Secretary Kristi Noem and 91 illegal aliens driving 18-wheelers in Indiana. In November, ICE arrested Akhror Bozorov, a criminal illegal alien from Uzbekistan wanted in his home country for alleged ties to a terrorist organization, who was working as a commercial truck driver in Kansas despite having no legal status.