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Sikh truck company hires green card drivers after license revocations
He also informed that one of his drivers was recently arrested by ICE while standing at a truck stop in Minnesota.
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Rwittika Chakraborty
- Wed, 04, Feb 2026
- 04:42 EST
- 28
Representative image / Pexels
Bikramjeet Singh Gill, a Sikh owner of Gillson Trucking Inc. in Stockton, shared that he has hired green card or U.S. citizen drivers, after his operation was hit hard when the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) cancelled thousands of commercial trucking licences a few months ago.
Gill said that about 35 of his immigrant drivers were told last year that the California DMV was cancelling their commercial driver's licences, which led them to leave overnight.
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He told CalMatters that his company has lost around $2 million in the last four months while paying $200,000 monthly to the bank and insurers for 35 parked trucks.
The cancellations took place after a September audit by the Trump administration, which cracked down on over 17.000 California commercial licences held by immigrants.
The audit detected that some licences had expiration dates that extended beyond drivers' legal authorisation to reside and work in the U.S. California later informed those drivers that their licences would be revoked.
New federal rules, that were introduced last year, could eventually take away licences from up to 61,000 immigrant truck drivers across the country.
This has heavily affected California's Sikh community.
With an estimate of about 35 per cent of the state's commercial drivers being Sikh, many of them based in the Central Valley, truck driving has long provided a stable income for Sikh immigrants who often took loans and had to pay debt to settle in the U.S.
Gill said in October that nearly 100 trucks sat parked at his depot. He then mentioned that now, gradually, some drivers are returning to work due to their pending mortgages and financial obligations.
He further mentioned that companies have followed state rules when hiring. However, fear continues to grow among drivers after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested truckers at inspection sites.
Gill also informed that one of his drivers was recently arrested by ICE while standing at a truck stop in Minnesota and still remains in detention.
Drivers are also taking down Sikh imagery from trucks amid fears of harassment.
The Sikh Coalition has filed a lawsuit challenging California's decision to cancel non-domicile commercial licences, stating that the move unfairly targets immigrant drivers.
Discover more at New India Abroad.
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