FRESNO — In the corner of Sammy Gill’s sprawling Fresno truck yard, among other gargantuan rigs with 20-plus-inch rims, a bright red 2022 Mack Anthem sits idle. The truck hasn’t moved since mid-November — not because it’s broken down, but because its owner, an immigrant driver, had his commercial driver’s license canceled under a state crackdown whose timing — and reach — remains unsettled.
“Beautiful truck,” said Gill, who co-owns Gill Freightways Solutions Inc., a trucking company that hauls refrigerated trailers, or reefers. “But (he) can’t drive it.”
The driver is one of thousands of immigrant truckers caught in a widening enforcement push targeting non-domiciled commercial licenses — held by drivers who are not U.S. citizens but have valid work authorization — an enforcement action California announced under pressure from the U.S. Department of Transportation, then partially paused after a legal challenge this week, even as federal officials insist enforcement should already be underway.
That uncertainty has left trucks sidelined in Central Valley hubs like Fresno and sent trucking companies scrambling to plan for what comes next, in a region that plays a central role in supplying the Bay Area.
Fresno anchors a supply chain that feeds, stocks and supplies Silicon Valley and beyond, hauling fresh produce, medicine and retail goods bound for Bay Area warehouses, grocery stores and businesses. The Port of Oakland, which has ranked first among U.S. ports for refrigerated exports for seven consecutive years, depends heavily on that Central Valley trucking network.
As drivers lose licenses — or brace for revocations that could still arrive — executives warn of worsening driver shortages, rising shipping costs and delays that could hit Bay Area consumers.
For Sikh and other immigrant truckers in Fresno, the consequences are already real: job losses, mounting debt, increased harassment and a reckoning with the political decisions that helped usher in the policies now threatening their livelihoods.
Gill said the owner of the red Mack Anthem began working for his company in December 2023. Last November, the man paid $85,000 to buy his own truck. In April, with Gill’s encouragement, he started his own trucking company. Now, without a license and buried under a loan that exceeds the truck’s value, he delivers food for DoorDash while Gill helps cover the payments.
“Is this what we voted for?” Gill asked. “That some guy who’s been working just fine, doing everything just fine — his record proves it — but now we’re taking his license away?”
Why Fresno — and trucking
Fresno County, at the center of one of the country’s most significant agricultural regions, has become a major trucking hub. The industry has helped many Sikh Americans, like Gill, pursue the American Dream.
Sikhs — many with roots in Punjab, India — make up about 40% of truck drivers in California, according to the North American Punjabi Trucking Association.
Sammy Gill, a Fresno trucking company owner, said several trucks in his yard have gone unused since immigrant drivers began losing their commercial licenses under new state enforcement. (Helena Getahun-Hawkins)On a chilly afternoon in late November, congregants at Singh Sabha Gurudwara of Fresno duck indoors. Hair bound in crisply folded turbans, bandanas and embroidered shawls, they sit cross-legged on strips of carpet, balancing metal trays of rice, salad and curry on their laps.
Friends chat. Mothers tear pieces of charred wheat flatbread and dip them into fragrant stew before feeding their toddlers. The scene plays out across Fresno County’s gurdwaras, where thousands gather for free communal meals, or “langar” — a core practice of Sikhism rooted in “vand chakna,” the principle of sharing one’s blessings.
Sikhs began settling in the Central Valley more than a century ago, with later waves fleeing religious persecution and political violence in India, including state crackdowns in the 1980s.
“What most likely attracted them to the Central Valley is the resemblance with the state of Punjab and the environment, which is primarily the agrarian economy,” said Gurminder Sangha, vice president of the Singh Sabha Gurudwara of Fresno.
By some estimates, he said, nearly 70,000 Sikhs live in the Central Valley.
In Fresno — where most residents identify as Hispanic — Sikhs hold public office, teach at the local university, work in agriculture, own small businesses and help sustain the trucking industry.
“It’s a generational thing,” said Deepali Gill, a legal casework manager with the Sikh Coalition, the nation’s largest Sikh civil rights organization. “A lot of them come from a long line of truckers and they continue to be truckers now here too.”
Sammy Gill’s family — no relation — has worked in transportation for four generations.
“In Sikhism, one of the things is ‘kirat karni,’ which is to earn an honest living,” Sammy Gill said. “To us, this (trucking) is honest.”
Sammy Gill has juggled multiple jobs over the years, including accounting work for his uncle’s trucking company and shifts as a hospital phlebotomist and lab assistant.
When a friend from the hospital died, it became a turning point.
“Everybody was more worried about who was going to cover his shift that night at the hospital than him passing away,” Sammy Gill said. “I made a promise to myself. I said I’d never work for anybody who doesn’t value me as a human.”
He decided to work for himself. In 2015, he and his father bought a truck. His father drove it at first while the younger Gill found loads. Eventually, he took the wheel himself — and loved it.
Driving trucks, he said, is demanding work — dictated by someone else’s schedule. He has missed weddings and birthdays; friends sent photos of lakeside gatherings he couldn’t attend.
Still, he believes the sacrifice pays off.
“It’s the last frontier where the American dream is still alive,” he said.
Policy shifts and growing pressure
Immigrant truck drivers are now navigating a maze of overlapping enforcement actions and conflicting timelines that have left many unsure when, or whether, they will be forced off the road.
In November, after warnings from the U.S. Department of Transportation, California announced plans to revoke roughly 17,000 commercial driver’s licenses issued to non-domiciled truckers.
Under the original timeline, mass work stoppages were expected to begin Jan. 5.
That deadline shifted this week after a class-action lawsuit filed by the Sikh Coalition and the Asian Law Caucus challenged the revocations, arguing the policy would sideline thousands of legally authorized drivers and disrupt supply chains. California responded by extending the deadline for terminating those licenses to March 6, 2026.
Federal officials, however, disputed the extension.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the federal government still considers Jan. 5 the enforcement deadline, accusing California of defying federal law.
“California does NOT have an ‘extension’ to keep breaking the law and putting Americans at risk on the roads,” Duffy wrote on social media, threatening to withhold federal funding.
Gavin Newsom is lying. The deadline to revoke illegally issued, unvetted foreign trucker licenses is still January 5.
California does NOT have an “extension” to keep breaking the law and putting Americans at risk on the roads.
Miss the deadline, Gavin, and the @USDOT will act —…
— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) December 31, 2025
At the same time, drivers are facing additional scrutiny.
In April, President Donald Trump signed an executive order requiring commercial truck drivers to demonstrate English proficiency, authorizing inspectors to place drivers out of service if they failed.
California initially resisted enforcing the order, but relented after federal officials threatened to withhold transportation funding, said Arshveer Singh, a former trucker in Fresno who teaches an online course called English4Truckers.
Singh said his classes are filled with drivers staying home to improve their English, drivers still working but struggling with English communication, and others already placed out of service. Some had driven for a decade or more.
“They have a clean record — no violation, no ticket — and suddenly, in a like five-minute inspection, they’ll get put out of service,” Singh said.
For drivers who own their trucks, the financial strain is immediate, Singh said, often forcing them to hire and pay replacement drivers. He estimates he has helped more than 40 drivers return to the road.
Singh said he believes truck drivers should be able to read road signs and communicate with officers but questions broader enforcement actions following two high-profile fatal crashes involving Sikh drivers.
On Aug. 12, Harjinder Singh, a truck driver whom federal officials say was in the country illegally, made an illegal U-turn in Florida, colliding with another vehicle and killing three people. As authorities circulated images of the driver — who wore a turban, like many Sikh men — his religion and immigration status became focal points. Singh has been charged with vehicular homicide and immigration violations and remains jailed in Florida.
In October, another fatal crash in Ontario, involving Sikh driver Jashanpreet Singh renewed scrutiny.
Soon after, Sikh truckers reported harassment, including racial slurs and objects thrown at vehicles, Deepali Gill said.
Sammy Gill said he sometimes makes a joke out on the road, implying he’s new to trucking.
“You know, just to be funny. I’m a funny guy,” Gill said.
Instead of laughter, he said, he got a response that caught him off guard: “Well, don’t make any U-turns.”
About a week after the Florida crash, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the U.S. would pause issuing work visas for commercial truck drivers.
“The increasing number of foreign drivers operating large tractor-trailer trucks on U.S. roads is endangering American lives and undercutting the livelihoods of American truckers,” Rubio wrote on social media Aug. 21.
In 2023, nearly 16% of U.S. commercial truck drivers were foreign-born, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
In September, the agency announced a rule limiting states’ ability to issue CDLs to non-domiciled drivers. A federal appeals court paused the rule in November.
“This actually doesn’t have anything to do with safety,” Deepali Gill said. “They’re just making lawless claims that non-domiciled CDL holders are just inherently dangerous to the public.”
Economic ripple effects
Nearly every call to the Sikh Coalition’s trucker hotline now concerns license revocations, Deepali Gill said in November. Drivers are losing income and facing mounting debt.
The impact extends beyond non-domiciled drivers, said Gurjant Singh, president of Fresno-based Newline Transport Inc.
“We are already kind of feeling it,” he said, citing driver shortages.
With fewer drivers, companies must pay more to keep trucks moving — costs that ripple outward. The DOT has threatened similar enforcement actions in Minnesota and New York.
“Who’s going to pay is the American consumer because they get their product delivered to them for a lot more than what it used to be,” Gurjant Singh said.
Sammy Gill described a customer furnishing a newly purchased motel. About seven months ago, transporting the furniture cost about $2,500 per truck. Now it runs $3,500 to $4,000.
Gill doubts younger workers will fill the gap. Insurance requirements demand two to three years of spotless driving records, he said, leaving only low-paying, self-insured mega-carriers willing to hire new drivers with a less-than-perfect record.
“I don’t see these kids stepping into that role and saying hey I’m 27 years old, I’m going to give my life to get this product from point A to point B,” he said.
A county swings right
In the 2024 election, just over half of Fresno County voters backed Trump.
Many truckers supported him, frustrated by inflation and economic stagnation during President Joe Biden’s term.
“The second time around a lot of people thought when Trump comes in everything will be good because he’s a businessman. He knows how to run the economy,” Sammy Gill said.
Now, some feel betrayed.
“All these guys who are like ‘I’m mad at Trump and this and that’. You should be mad at yourself. You caused this,” he said. “Heck, I might have caused this. I didn’t even vote for the guy, but I didn’t stop anyone from voting for him.”
Helena Getahun-Hawkins is a journalism master’s student at Stanford University. She can be reached through the managing editor.
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