Immigrant Driver’s Fatal Crash Sparks Outrage

A semi-truck driver who killed four Amish men in a head-on collision entered the United States just over a year earlier through a mobile app and obtained his commercial driver’s license in Pennsylvania before taking the wheel of an 80,000-pound tractor-trailer.

Story Snapshot

Bekzhan Beishekeev, 30, from Kyrgyzstan, swerved into oncoming traffic in Jay County, Indiana, killing Henry Eicher, 50, and his two sons, plus another young Amish man.
The driver entered the US in December 2024 via the CBP One app and secured a Pennsylvania CDL before working for trucking companies now under investigation.
ICE took Beishekeev into custody on a separate immigration warrant the day after the crash; no criminal charges have been filed yet.
Investigators are probing potential connections to sham CDL schools and questioning how Pennsylvania issued a commercial license to a recent migrant.

When Immigration Policy Meets Highway Safety

Bekzhan Beishekeev arrived in Philadelphia from Kyrgyzstan in late December 2024 using the CBP One mobile application, a Biden-administration tool designed to process asylum and parole claims at the border. Within months, he held a Pennsylvania commercial driver’s license and was piloting a 2022 Freightliner semi-tractor-trailer for Sam Express and AJ Partners, two trucking outfits now facing scrutiny. His route through the immigration system to the driver’s seat of a commercial truck raises urgent questions about vetting, training standards, and the intersection of border policy with public safety on America’s highways.

A Father, Two Sons, and Another Young Life Lost

The crash unfolded on a Tuesday morning in Jay County, Indiana, on flat rural roads that crisscross Amish farmland near Bryant and Portland. Beishekeev was driving eastbound when his semi swerved into the westbound lane, colliding head-on with a van carrying Amish men. The impact killed Henry M. Eicher, 50, of Bryant, along with his sons Menno, 25, and Paul, 18. Simon R. Girod, 23, also of Bryant, died in the wreck. The Eicher family buried their father and sons the Sunday following the crash; the Girod family held their funeral the next day. These weren’t anonymous victims; they were pillars of tight-knit communities where large families and mutual reliance define daily life.

The Pennsylvania CDL Pipeline Under Investigation

Pennsylvania has earned a reputation in trucking circles as a state where commercial licenses can be obtained with minimal scrutiny, a practice critics compare to a drive-through window. Beishekeev’s employment history connects him to Aydana, a CDL training school now under investigation alongside his employers, Sam Express and AJ Partners. Authorities suspect these entities may be part of a network issuing licenses to drivers without proper training or testing, a systemic flaw that puts untrained operators behind the wheel of vehicles capable of catastrophic damage. The probe into these companies continues, but no formal charges have been filed against the driver or the businesses as of the latest reports.

ICE Custody Separate From Crash Investigation

The day after the collision, Indiana State Police arrested Beishekeev on an immigration warrant unrelated to the crash itself. By Thursday morning, Immigration and Customs Enforcement had taken him into federal custody pending immigration proceedings. The Jay County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the bench warrant that triggered the ICE transfer had nothing to do with the crash investigation, which remains active under the jurisdiction of Indiana State Police. Investigators have yet to determine the precise cause of the swerve that sent the semi into oncoming traffic, though preliminary accounts suggest the truck may have veered after a vehicle ahead slowed for traffic. No crash-related criminal charges have been filed, and the investigation timeline remains open-ended.

CBP One and the Debate Over Border Enforcement

The CBP One app became a flashpoint in immigration debates during the Biden administration, praised by advocates as a humane processing tool and condemned by critics as a backdoor for unchecked entry. Beishekeev’s use of the app to gain legal entry in December 2024, followed by his rapid acquisition of a CDL and subsequent involvement in a fatal crash, offers a case study in the unintended consequences of policy decisions made at the border. DHS confirmed his entry and Pennsylvania’s issuance of the commercial license, but questions remain about whether any background checks or driving competency assessments were conducted before he was cleared to operate a semi-truck on American roads.

Amish Vulnerability on Rural Highways

Amish communities across Pennsylvania, Indiana, Wisconsin, and New York have long faced elevated risks on roadways, typically involving buggies struck by inattentive drivers. The 2023 crash data from MAP Ministry cataloged more than ten incidents, including a semi versus buggy collision in Holton, Wisconsin, that injured three, and a fatal pickup-buggy crash in Watertown, New York, that killed two children. This Jay County collision differs in that it involved a van, not a buggy, and resulted from a semi swerving into oncoming traffic rather than a rear-end or intersection accident. The scale of the tragedy—four deaths, including a father and two sons—amplifies the grief and underscores the stakes when commercial vehicle safety intersects with vulnerable populations.

Semi-Truck Driver Who Crashed Into a Van of Amish Men, Killing Four, Was a Migrant With a PA CDL https://t.co/y8mxWdN7PL

— Jim Polk 🇺🇸 (@JimPolk) February 6, 2026

The trucking industry now faces intensified scrutiny over sham CDL schools and the vetting of immigrant drivers, while the Amish families of Bryant and Portland bury their dead and grapple with losses that ripple through extended kinship networks. Whether Pennsylvania reforms its licensing standards, whether federal immigration enforcement tightens its protocols, and whether prosecutors in Jay County ultimately file criminal charges all remain unanswered. What is certain is that four men who should have returned home that Tuesday are gone, and a system that allowed an untested driver from Kyrgyzstan to pilot a semi-truck on Indiana back roads deserves every ounce of skepticism now directed at it.