Shapiro responds to illegal immigrant trucker fiasco – says driver was in fed database first

By Fox News · Fox News

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro responded to backlash over the arrest of an Uzbek illegal immigrant with suspected terror ties who was captured by federal authorities while holding a Pennsylvania commercial driver’s license. Akhror Bozorov was nabbed by ICE while driving a big rig in Kansas and holding a Pennsylvania CDL with a Somerton, Philadelphia address. He was wanted in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on suspicion of ties to terrorist groups among other allegations, according to DHS. Shapiro said Bozorov still remained in the federal database PennDOT uses to vet noncitizens for licensure validity as of Wednesday – and administration officials penned a scathing letter to lawmakers about the incident, disputing that it was ever possible he was registered to vote, as some critics have questioned. In a letter to House and Senate leaders obtained by Fox News Digital, PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll, a Democrat, and Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt, a Republican, pushed back on "misstatements and ill-informed speculation" from critical officials, including allegations illegal immigrants are permitted under the Shapiro administration to obtain state driver’s licenses. ICE ARRESTS ILLEGAL-IMMIGRANT TRUCKER FROM UZBEKISTAN OVER ALLEGED TERROR TIES "All non-citizens who apply for driver’s licenses… must provide PennDOT with proof of identity and must have their legal presence in this country verified through the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database ," Carroll and Schmidt wrote. "The SAVE database is maintained by the United States Department of Homeland Security. In the instance the letter references, PennDOT followed the established federal process for confirming that the applicant was lawfully present using the SAVE database," they said. Carroll said PennDOT communicated with DHS on the matter Tuesday and found the database did not flag any issues in the time since Bozorov’s license was issued in July. LAWMAKERS WARNED PENNDOT OF ILLEGAL…