It happened in an instant. A family minivan on Florida’s Turnpike slammed into an 18-wheeler on August 12, 2025, crumpling beneath it like aluminum foil. Three lives were gone in seconds. Behind the wheel of the truck was Harjinder Singh — a man who, records show, failed his commercial driver’s test ten times in just four weeks before Washington state issued him a license anyway.
Singh walked away without a scratch. The crash that should never have happened became the spark for a national reckoning — Operation Midway Blitz.
Another Crash, Another Tragedy in California
Just weeks later, the pattern repeated. On October 21, 2025, a Freightliner barreled into slow-moving traffic on a San Bernardino freeway. Three more people died. The driver, 21-year-old asylum seeker Jashanpreet Singh, had received his commercial license only months earlier — despite federal auditors warning, weeks before, that California’s licensing program had “significant compliance failures.”
Another preventable tragedy. Another set of families broken.
The Largest Crackdown in U.S. History
By late October, patience had run out. On October 29, 2025, federal and state authorities launched the largest coordinated enforcement operation targeting commercial truck drivers in U.S. history. Operation Midway Blitz descended on the highways of Northwest Indiana with one mission: to remove illegal immigrants operating 80,000-pound vehicles from American roads.
The scale was staggering — a first-of-its-kind sweep that marked a turning point in national enforcement.
223 Arrested in One Operation — 146 Were Truck Drivers
When the dust settled, 223 undocumented immigrants were in custody. Nearly two-thirds — 146 of them — were operating commercial trucks. Many carried serious criminal records: convictions for assault, DUI, drug trafficking, fraud, child abuse, domestic violence, and more.
Authorities described it bluntly — these weren’t farmworkers or laborers caught in a sweep; they were dangerous, unlicensed operators behind the wheels of massive rigs.
The Name Behind the Mission: Katie Abraham
The operation’s name carries a heartbreak all its own. Operation Midway Blitz honors Katie Abraham, a 20-year-old Ohio University junior killed on January 19, 2025, when a drunk driver going 78 mph slammed into her car at a stoplight in Urbana, Illinois. Katie and her friend, 21-year-old Chloe Polzin, were killed instantly. Their deaths triggered a national response — and Katie’s name became the emblem of reform.
The Driver Who Killed Katie: Julio Cucul-Bol
Behind the wheel that night was 29-year-old Julio Cucul-Bol, an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala. Officers found open beer containers inside his vehicle. In October 2025 — the same week Operation Midway Blitz was announced — Cucul-Bol was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Katie’s father, Joe Abraham, gave permission for her name to be used in the federal operation. “She believed in safety,” he said. “If this saves another life, she’d want that.”
Harjinder Singh: Ten Failures, One License
Singh’s licensing record exposed the fragility of the system. Between March 10 and May 5, 2023, he took Washington state’s commercial driver’s test ten times — and failed every attempt. Yet, inexplicably, he was still issued a CDL.
He later used that license to obtain a California CDL — the one he held when his truck crushed a Florida minivan and killed three people.
The Victims on the Turnpike
The victims were Herby Dufresne, 30; Faniola Joseph, 37; and Rodrigue Dor, 54 — all Haitian immigrants returning to Indiana after visiting family. Herby was airlifted to HCA Florida Lawnwood Hospital but died of his injuries.
Singh, who entered the U.S. illegally in 2018, survived unhurt. Three families lost everything in moments.
From Asylum Seeker to Tragedy
The California crash told the same story. Jashanpreet Singh, who entered the U.S. illegally in 2022 through California’s El Centro Sector, was released under an “alternatives to detention” policy while awaiting immigration hearings.
In June 2025, California granted him a restricted, non-domiciled CDL — valid only for in-state driving. It was meant as a safeguard. It became a loophole.
Federal Warnings Ignored
By September 26, 2025, federal auditors had seen enough. They flagged “significant compliance failures” in California’s licensing process and ordered an immediate pause on issuing commercial licenses to undocumented immigrants.
The instruction was direct — but California continued as if nothing had changed. Within weeks, the consequences would unfold in blood and metal.
Seventeen Days Too Late
When Jashanpreet turned 21 in October, California’s automated system automatically upgraded his license — removing the safety restriction — without verifying his legal status or English proficiency. Homeland Security later confirmed that under new federal rules, his license would have been denied outright. California had 17 days to comply. Instead, it lifted the restriction. Days later, three people were dead.
The Price of Defiance
Federal investigators saw the timing as more than a coincidence — it was defiance. California had ignored a federal directive, and innocent lives paid the price.
What should have been a simple pause in licensing became another symbol of friction between state sanctuary policies and federal enforcement.
“Your Days Are Numbered”
At an October 30 press conference in Gary, Indiana, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem delivered a blunt warning: “If you are operating vehicles on our roads illegally, you are putting our citizens at risk — and your time is running out.” The phrase — “your days are numbered” — became the rallying cry of Operation Midway Blitz, aimed not only at unlicensed drivers but at the states enabling them.
The Sanctuary State Problem
Of the 146 truckers arrested, most had licenses from California, Illinois, and New York — all sanctuary states that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities. According to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, those states had been issuing CDLs to undocumented immigrants without confirming legal status or English comprehension.
“These are 80,000-pound vehicles,” he said. “Verification isn’t optional. It’s survival.”
The Federal Funding Squeeze
To force compliance, the Department of Transportation announced a new penalty: California will lose $160 million in federal highway funding for every verified violation of licensing standards.
Repeated failure could even strip the state of its authority to issue CDLs altogether. The message was unmistakable — sanctuary policies now come with a price tag.
Language Barriers Behind the Wheel
Federal safety officials highlighted another danger: communication. Many arrested drivers were unable to read English road signs or understand police instructions. “In a crisis,” Noem warned, “seconds matter.
A driver who can’t read a hazardous cargo warning or a detour sign endangers everyone around them.” For federal regulators, language isn’t just a policy issue — it’s life and death.
Schools That Rubber-Stamp Drivers
Investigators also uncovered networks of fraudulent testing centers — dubbed “CDL mills.” These schools certified drivers without verifying their skills, citizenship, or English proficiency. Some even helped falsify documents.
Many of these facilities operate in California, where federal officials now plan to pursue criminal charges and revoke testing authorizations.
Oklahoma’s Coordinated Operations
The crackdown didn’t stop in Indiana. In September 2025, Oklahoma State Police and ICE arrested 125 individuals — including 91 commercial drivers — under the 287(g) federal partnership program. A second sweep in late October added another 70 arrests, 34 of them truck drivers.
Officials said the success of Oklahoma’s coordination has become the model for nationwide enforcement.
271 Illegal Immigrant Truck Drivers Removed
Taken together, operations in Indiana and Oklahoma removed roughly 271 illegal immigrant truck drivers from U.S. highways in a matter of months.
Federal officials say this is only the beginning — the first wave of a sustained, national push to restore safety and accountability to the country’s commercial trucking system.
The Unanswered Question
As Operation Midway Blitz widens, one question still echoes across every crash site and press room: How many more remain? How many unqualified, undocumented drivers are still steering 80,000-pound machines down America’s highways tonight?
Federal leaders call enforcement the only path to safety — a necessary shield against chaos on the roads. But for the families who’ve buried loved ones, safety came too late. Their loss serves as a warning that others are praying won’t be repeated.