Trump will cut funding to states that do not require English for their commercial drivers.

The government of President Donald Trump threatened on Wednesday to cut off federal funding to three Democratic states unless they strengthen English language regulations for commercial truck drivers.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy gave the states of California, Washington, and New Mexico 30 days to adapt and enforce English language proficiency requirements for commercial motor vehicle drivers that the Department of Transportation established in a new regulation.

These three states—all governed by Democrats—received official notifications on Tuesday informing them of the potential loss of funding after a transportation department investigation found that they are failing to remove drivers with poor English proficiency from circulation. 

Singh is extradited to Florida. | La Derecha Diario

The Transportation Secretary's statements.

"States can't choose which federal safety rules to follow and which not to," Duffy said in a press release. "As we saw with the horrific accident in Florida that killed three people, when states don't enforce the law, they endanger everyone on the roads."

"Under President Trump's leadership, we're taking aggressive action to close these safety gaps, hold states accountable, and ensure that every commercial driver on the road is qualified to operate a 40-ton (36,287-kilogram) vehicle," the official continued. 

Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy | La Derecha Diario

The tragedy on the highway caused by an illegal immigrant.

The new regulatory measure was taken as a consequence of the tragedy caused by Harjinder Singh, an illegal immigrant from India who obtained a commercial driver's license in California despite his lack of language proficiency and irregular status in the US.

Singh caused the deaths of three people by making a prohibited U-turn with his truck on a Florida highway and was charged with three counts of vehicular homicide. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued a detention order against the Indian citizen, who was extradited to Florida from California this week.  

After the fatal accident, investigators discovered that Singh had extremely poor knowledge of the English language and of US road signs, raising questions about how he obtained a heavy cargo commercial transport license.