Florida Senate advances bill to detain undocumented truckers, transfer them to ICE after deadly Turnpike crash

Lawmakers started moving forward Tuesday with a proposal crafted in response to a deadly crash involving an undocumented-immigrant truck driver on Florida's Turnpike. The Republican-dominated Senate Transportation Committee voted 6-3 along party lines to approve a bill (SB 86) that would require law-enforcement officers to take into custody truck drivers who are determined to be undocumented immigrants and help transfer them to federal immigration officials. 

Also, it would require impounding trucks driven by undocumented immigrants taken into custody and imposing a $50,000 fine on the vehicles' owners. 

"The purpose of the bill is to remove imminent hazards from our highways and to discourage and penalize those who would use illegals to operate a commercial vehicle on Florida roads," bill sponsor Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, said. 

The bill came after a semi-tractor trailer driver, Harjinder Singh, a native of India, was arrested in August following a crash that allegedly stemmed from him attempting a U-Turn on the turnpike in St. Lucie County. Three people died in the crash. 

Rep. Jason Shoaf, R-Port St. Joe has filed a House version of the bill, named HB 1247.