The Trump administration reportedly moved Friday to sharply restrict the ability of noncitizens to obtain commercial driver’s licenses, after a series of fatal crashes involving immigrant truck drivers raised alarms about road safety and state-level compliance with federal rules.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced new measures requiring states to verify the immigration status of all applicants through a federal database and limiting eligibility to only three categories of visa holders: H-2A, H-2B, and E-2. Licenses issued under these terms will last no longer than one year, or the duration of the applicant’s visa if it expires sooner.
“We have a government system designed to keep American families on the road safe. But that system has been compromised,” Duffy said, citing fatal crashes in Florida, Texas, and Alabama this year caused by drivers who “never should have received licenses.”
The most recent crash — a deadly U-turn accident in Florida that killed two people — set off a nationwide audit of commercial driver licensing practices. Investigators quickly uncovered systemic failures.
According to Duffy, licenses were improperly issued in California, Colorado, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, and Washington.
California drew the harshest scrutiny. Federal investigators reviewed 145 licenses issued to noncitizens in the state since June and found that one in four should never have been approved under existing rules.
Some licenses, Duffy said, were still valid years after the driver’s work permit had expired.
In response, Duffy threatened to withhold $160 million in federal highway funding unless California audits its program and submits a compliance plan within 30 days. “The current rules aren’t strict enough, and a number of states aren’t following them,” he said.
California officials bristled at the findings. Diana Crofts-Pelayo, spokeswoman for Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, derided Duffy as a “former D-list reality star, now Secretary of Transportation” and dismissed his effort as political. “California commercial driver’s license holders had a fatal crash rate nearly 40% lower than the national average,” she said, arguing that Texas’s crash rate is nearly 50% higher. “Facts don’t lie. The Trump administration does.”
Despite those criticisms, major trucking groups applauded the new rules. The American Trucking Association, which had pushed for an audit since the spring, said the reforms were long overdue. “Rules only work when they are consistently enforced, and it’s imperative that all state driver licensing agencies comply with federal regulations,” said Chris Spear, the group’s president and CEO.
Todd Spencer, head of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, agreed. “For too long, loopholes in this program have allowed unqualified drivers onto America’s highways, creating unnecessary safety risks for professional drivers and the motoring public alike. These enforcement actions will also remove bad actors from the road and restore accountability to the system.”
Duffy downplayed fears of a driver shortage, noting that noncitizens account for just 5 percent of all commercial licenses. The changes, he said, will ensure that only “qualified and authorized” drivers operate large trucks on American highways.
For the Trump administration, the move represents both a safety initiative and a rebuke of states that resist federal authority on immigration enforcement. In Duffy’s words: “American families deserve to know that the federal government is putting their safety first.”
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