Illegal Immigrant With Commercial Driver’s License Allegedly Causes Deadly Crash in Tennessee

A Chinese national with a commercial driver’s license, who entered the United States illegally in 2023, is accused of causing a freeway accident in Tennessee that killed one person and injured two, federal immigration officials announced Wednesday.

Investigators say Huang Yisong, 54, who lives in New York, was distracted by a video on his phone while driving a tour bus Dec. 9 and slammed into the rear of a tractor-trailer on Interstate 40 in Putnam County, about 80 miles east of Nashville, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

The crash allegedly set off a chain reaction involving another truck and car that led to the death of one truck driver, Kerry Smith, 31, of Tennessee, authorities reported.

“Far too many Americans have been killed by illegal aliens driving semi-trucks and big rigs,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement. “And yet, sanctuary states around the country have been issuing illegal aliens commercial driver’s licenses. The Trump administration is ending the chaos.”

There were no passengers on Huang’s tour bus at the time of the accident, according to DHS.

Federal officials say Huang had entered the country illegally from Mexico but was released into the United States and provided with work authorization papers and a Social Security card by the Biden administration.

Huang was able to get a commercial driver’s license in New York because he was given the work papers, according to DHS.

Huang was arrested on vehicular homicide charges after last week’s crash.

Federal transportation officials launched an investigation and are working with Tennessee officials.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement that numerous “unqualified foreigner drivers” are operating “40-ton missiles on the highway.”

Huang failed an English proficiency test after the crash, according to DHS.

“The fact that this individual failed a basic English test also calls into question how he even got the license in the first place,” Duffy added.

The Tennessee crash is the latest high-profile case this year involving an illegal immigrant who had obtained a commercial driver’s license under the Biden administration and later allegedly caused a traffic fatality.

Duffy announced earlier this month that nearly 3,000 commercial driver’s license training providers had been removed from a federal registry as part of a crackdown on illegal test training centers.