(The Center Square) – A suspected terrorist arrested in Kansas earlier this month is a licensed truck driver in Pennsylvania, according to federal authorities.
Akhror Bozorov fled his native Uzbekistan after law enforcement there issued an arrest warrant in late 2022. The 31-year-old, not an American citizen, is accused of recruiting on behalf of an unnamed jihadist terrorist group and distributing its propaganda online.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Bozorov crossed the southern border in February 2023, where he was apprehended, released, and given work authorization before receiving a commercial truck driver’s license in Pennsylvania in July.
In a statement issued Monday, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin skewered the former Biden administration for allowing “countless terrorists to come into our country.”
“Not only was Akhror Bozorov – a wanted terrorist – released into the country by the Biden administration, but he was also given a commercial driver’s license by Governor Shapiro’s Pennsylvania,” she said. “This should go without saying, but terrorist illegal aliens should not be operating 18-wheelers on America’s highways.”
The Center Square was unsuccessful prior to publication in getting a comment from Shapiro.
The state’s Republican Party, however, wants answers. In a statement issued Tuesday, Chairman Greg Rothman demanded a “full and immediate investigation” into how Bozorov was granted a CDL in the commonwealth.
“This is not just a policy failure; this is a national security breach right here in Pennsylvania,” he said. “How in the world did someone with terrorist ties pass every check to get behind the wheel of an 18-wheeler in our state? And a Real ID at that? The people who signed off on this need to be found, fired, and Governor Shapiro must answer for this.”
Bozorov’s case is just the latest in a string of arrests that underscore the trucking industry’s growing concern over the lackadaisical enforcement of licensing rules that require drivers to pass the test in written English.
In October, Homeland Security arrested Anmol Anmol, who was issued a New York commercial driver’s license under the name “No Name Given Anmol.” U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents discovered his status during a highway inspection in Oklahoma, where he was taken into custody and placed in removal proceedings.
A month earlier, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration ordered states to pause the issuance of nondomiciled CDLs to drivers on temporary visas, citing public safety concerns.
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The rule came too late for three people killed in a crash on the Florida turnpike when an 18-wheeler driven by Harjinder Singh made an illegal U-turn on the divided highway.
Homeland Security said Singh does not have a legal right to be in the United States and obtained a commercial driver’s license in California. The Florida Highway Patrol said he crossed the Mexico border into California in 2018.
