US President Donald Trump has called for a federal law against giving commercial driver's licences to those living illegally in the US, citing an accident involving an illegal migrant from India in which a child was injured.
"I'm calling on Congress to pass a law that we will call 'The Dalilah Law', barring any state from granting commercial driver's licenses to illegal aliens", he said during his State of the Union Address to Congress on Wednesday (India time).
The child, Dalilah Coleman, for whom he wants the law named, was in the public gallery.
She received a standing ovation when Trump called her up, and her father, Marcus Coleman, held her up.
Trump brought up Dalilah's case while speaking out against illegal migration, for which he blamed his predecessor, Joe Biden, and mentioned a string of cases involving illegal migrants.
He did not name the driver or the country he came from in Dalilah's case, only saying, "The driver was an illegal alien let in by Joe Biden and given a commercial driver's license by open borders politicians in California".
Partap Singh, who came from India and entered the US through Mexico in October 2022, was identified by the Homeland Security Department as the driver of the truck involved in the accident.
After the accident, "doctors said Delilah would never be able to walk or talk (or) have a good life, she wouldn't be able to eat again", Trump said.
He called her an "inspiration" and said that she recovered and "is now in the first grade, learning to walk".
"Most illegal aliens do not speak English and cannot read even the most basic road signs as to direction, speed, danger or location," Trump said.
The accident took place in California in June 2024 when the 18-wheeler truck, which Singh was driving, allegedly at a high speed and failed to stop in a construction zone, causing a multi-vehicle accident in which several people were also injured, according to the Homeland Security Department.
It said that Dalilah "was in a coma for three weeks and required six months of hospital treatment before her family could bring her home".
According to the department, at least three other illegal migrants from India have been involved in trucking crashes and are facing deportation.
(With inputs from IANS)
