Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced sweeping emergency rules on Friday to tighten who can obtain licenses to drive tractor-trailers in the United States, calling the current system a “national emergency” after a series of deadly crashes linked to foreign drivers operating with improperly issued credentials.
Speaking at the Transportation Department headquarters, Duffy described the practice of states issuing commercial driver’s licenses to people who are neither U.S. citizens nor permanent residents as “absolutely broken.” He said licenses meant for temporary, nonresident drivers have been handed out illegally or without proper checks, allowing unqualified operators to get behind the wheel of 80,000-pound trucks.
“In plain English, these are licenses to operate massive trucks being issued to foreign drivers who shouldn’t have them. The system has failed, and it has become a threat to public safety,” Duffy said. “It’s a direct hazard to every family on the road.”
The secretary pointed to multiple fatal crashes this year involving such drivers. In Texas, a trucker with a history of violations caused a 17-vehicle pileup in March that killed five people, including two children. In Alabama, a driver with only six weeks’ experience slammed into cars at a red light in May, killing two. And in Florida this summer, a trucker who did not speak English made an illegal U-turn on the turnpike, causing a crash that killed three people.
The new rule, issued by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, restricts eligibility for these licenses to people on a narrow set of work visas, including H-2A agricultural and H-2B seasonal worker visas. States must now verify immigration documents through a federal database and require in-person renewals that expire with a worker’s visa or within a year, whichever is sooner. FMCSA Chief Counsel Jesse Elison said the change will immediately disqualify about 190,000 of these licenses. “We cannot permit this failed system to continue in its current framework,” Elison said. “It’s an imminent hazard to public safety.”
Officials stressed that the rule is not retroactive and will not automatically revoke existing licenses, though Duffy said he hopes to find a path to address those cases as well.
Duffy singled out California as the worst offender, where investigators found more than 1 in 4 licenses for foreign drivers were issued illegally. Examples included a Brazilian driver who was cleared to operate school buses even though his legal residency had already expired, and a Honduran driver who received a license without any check of his immigration status.
“California’s reckless disregard is frankly disgusting and an affront to the millions of Americans who expect us to keep them safe,” Duffy said.
The state has 30 days to comply or risk losing federal highway funds, starting at about $160 million in the first year and doubling in year two. If California still refuses to comply, FMCSA officials warned they could go further by decertifying the state’s entire CDL program. Other states, including Colorado, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, and Washington, were also flagged for irregularities and could face enforcement action next.
Reporters pressed Duffy on whether cracking down on foreign drivers could worsen the nation’s trucker shortage. He dismissed the concern, saying there are “plenty of American drivers ready and willing” to take on the work. “We all saw during COVID how important truckers are to moving goods. We don’t need nonresident drivers to keep America’s shelves stocked. We have American truckers who are ready to go,” he said.
Industry data, however, paint a more complicated picture. According to the American Trucking Association, the industry was short more than 80,000 drivers at the end of 2024, a gap projected to grow to more than 160,000 by 2030 if current labor and demographic trends continue. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects nearly 238,000 openings for heavy- and tractor-trailer truck drivers will need to be filled each year through 2034, much of it due to retirements. A large share of current drivers are over 55, and efforts to recruit younger workers have struggled in the face of long hours, time away from home, and high turnover rates.
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Asked about Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D-CA) response, Duffy acknowledged he hasn’t spoken with him directly but warned he is prepared to follow through with funding cuts. “We just want compliance. We want California to keep its roads safe, but also every road in America,” he said.
Duffy insisted the crackdown isn’t about immigration politics but about saving lives. “Over 40,000 people die on America’s roads every year,” he said. “If we can do anything, even small things, to prevent more families from getting that phone call, we’re going to act. And if states won’t do it, we’ll force them to.”
