La Paz County Arrests Noncitizen Truckers With Alleged Fraudulent CDLs Near Quartzsite

A U.S. Border Patrol response to an Interstate 10 crash near Quartzsite led Blythe Station agents to arrest a 29-year-old Uzbek national who was allegedly carrying five separate driving credentials — a New York learner’s permit, a New York driver’s license, an Ohio driver’s license, an Ohio commercial learner’s permit and an Ohio commercial driver’s license — and who will be processed for deportation under 8 U.S.C. 1182, according to Border Patrol and reporting from Cdllife and WorldTribune. Border Patrol posted a one-line reaction on X, quoted by Cdllife: “How many IDs does an illegal alien need?”

The crash required the tractor-trailer to be towed from the I-10 scene, and agents who reviewed the driver’s immigration history say he illegally entered the United States in April 2023 and was issued an order of removal by an immigration judge in July, yet continued to operate commercial vehicles, WorldTribune and Cdllife reported. Authorities arrested him for alien inadmissibility and are processing him for deportation proceedings through the Blythe Station in the Border Patrol’s Yuma Sector.

That incident is part of a cluster of recent enforcement actions in the region. Seaandjob reported that Quartzsite police stopped an Indian national identified as Sukhdeep Singh on Jan. 17, 2026 for allegedly running a red light and a stop sign; Blythe Station agents then confirmed he was unlawfully present despite possessing a California commercial driver’s license and began deportation processing under Section 1182 of Title 8. Fox News separately reported that Blythe Station agents arrested a 25-year-old Indian national at an inland checkpoint who was in possession of a New York commercial driver’s license; sources do not confirm whether the Fox News checkpoint arrest and the Seaandjob Quartzsite traffic stop involve the same person.

Federal and state enforcement accounts connect the local arrests to wider inspections and targeted operations. WorldTribune cited a single-day operation in Wheeler County, Texas in which teams conducted 105 vehicle inspections and the governor’s office identified 31 drivers with CDLs who were unlawfully present, noting that many of the CDLs were issued in California. WorldTribune also referenced an arrest in Kansas of a 31-year-old Uzbek named Akhor Bozorov, who reportedly held a Pennsylvania commercial driver’s license and was taken into custody by ICE.

Questions about how state-issued CDLs enter the commercial fleet have resurfaced amid separate criminal and regulatory actions. A Corso Law Group summary of a federal case from Sept. 22, 2015 says California DMV employees were arrested after allegedly distributing fraudulent CDLs to unauthorized drivers, with federal authorities estimating more than 100 drivers involved and payments up to $5,000 each; U.S. Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner was cited as saying DMV databases were altered to show passing test results, and the Corso Law Group piece reproduces a CBS Sacramento quote from truck driver George McDonald: “if you’re not properly trained to drive one, a truck, you have really no business behind it.” Fox News has further framed the issue around Department of Transportation action, reporting that Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy moved to revoke roughly 17,000 California CDLs and citing FMCSA data that about 5 percent of CDLs belong to immigrants while immigrants account for roughly 0.2 percent of fatal crashes.

Seaandjob also reports that Blythe Station agents have arrested multiple other undocumented Indian nationals in separate incidents, and that authorities have encouraged undocumented individuals to consider voluntary departure via the CBP Home app to preserve future re-entry eligibility. As investigations continue, Blythe Station, ICE and state authorities remain the primary agencies handling processing and transport for these cases, while court and regulatory disputes over CDL issuance and federal oversight continue to play out at the national level.