DHS Spox Slaps Gavin Newsom X Account With Fact Check Over Fatal Highway Crash Involving Migrant
(Fox News screenshot/Marcio Jose Sanchez/Jose Luis Magana/AP photos)
DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin is firing back at Gavin Newsom’s spicy office X account in the latest salvo of a social media war that stems from a fatal highway crash involving an illegal migrant driver.
The battle has erupted after three people were killed Aug. 12 when a minivan slammed into a tractor-trailer that was attempting an illegal U-turn on the Florida Turnpike. The truck driver, Harjinder Singh, was arrested and charged with three counts of vehicular homicide.
When it was revealed that Singh has been in the U.S. illegally after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in 2028, McLaughlin and DHS honcho Kristi Noem seized on the opportunity to rip Newsom and the state of California, where Singh got his commercial driver’s license.
The latest shot across the bow came after Newsom’s GovPressOffice X account posted: “Hey, genius: the federal government (TRUMP ADMIN) already confirmed that this guy meets federal and state immigration requirements — YOU issued him a work permit (EAD). As usual, the Trump Administration is either lying or clueless.”
But later Monday, McLaughlin fired back — with a fact check of her own.
False. Harjinder Singh is in the United States illegally and his work authorization was rejected under the Trump Administration on September 14, 2020. It was later approved under the Biden Administration June 9, 2021.
The state of California issues Commercial Drivers Licenses. There is no national CDL.
Sincerely,
Genius
Eager to get the last word, the GovPressOffice account later shared: “Thank you for confirming that the federal government issued him a work permit and you FAILED to revoke it! Is Kowgirl Kristi asleep at the at reins?”
The new post also contained a summary from X’s AI chatbot Grok that commercial driver’s licenses are enforced by the federal Department of Transportation, though issued by states, as McLaughlin claimed.
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