An illegal migrant trucker who killed three people in a disastrous eight-car pileup received a 'slap on the wrist' punishment.

Jashanpreet Singh, 21, of Yuba City, was sentenced Tuesday to four years and eight months in prison after being convicted in connection with the 2025 California crash. 

Singh is an undocumented immigrant from India who was caught and released by the Biden administration at the California border in 2022. 

Dashcam footage captured the moment the semi-truck rammed into the back of a traffic queue after failing to reduce speed on the 10 Freeway in Ontario on October 21, 2025.

The terrifying video showed the semi-truck smashing into the back of a white SUV, before causing a red sedan to erupt into a fireball as it was pushed into another truck. 

Singh's semi then drifted through several lanes of traffic, smashed into utility trucks on the side of the road and came to a stop. 

A total of eight vehicles, including four semi-trucks, were involved in the crash. Two victims were pronounced dead at the scene, and a third person died at the hospital. 

The 21-year-old was arrested and later pleaded guilty to three felony counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence.

Singh was initially suspected of driving under the influence, but toxicology tests found no drugs or alcohol in his system. 

Prosecutors instead alleged the 21-year-old fell asleep at the wheel. 

US Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy slammed Singh’s prison sentence on X, calling it a 'slap on the wrist.'

'Five years is a slap on the wrist for KILLING 3 AMERICANS. If California followed the rules, illegal aliens like Jashanpreet Singh wouldn’t be driving 80,000 pound missiles down our roads,' he wrote.

 'We won’t stop until ALL illegal truckers are put out of business and held accountable,' Duffy added.

Singh secured a California commercial driver's license in June 2025, only months before the deadly pileup, according to the US Department of Transportation. 

In September, federal officials ordered the blue state to stop issuing new commercial driver's licenses to noncitizens and review existing licenses after uncovering compliance issues.

Anyone who failed to meet the requirements was supposed to have their license revoked.

Federal officials said Singh should have been deemed ineligible under an emergency Department of Transportation policy. 

On October 15 Singh’s commercial driver’s license restriction was removed. 

Six days later, authorities said he was driving the semitruck in the fatal crash.