The Trump administration has pulled about 9,500 truck drivers off the road for failing to pass an English test as part of the federal crackdown on illegal immigrants working in the nation’s trucking industry.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy made the announcement on Wednesday.
“We’ve now knocked 9,500 truck drivers out of service for failing to speak our national language — ENGLISH!” Duffy posted on X. “This administration will always put you and your family’s safety first.”
The federal government has taken several steps this year to crack down on non-English-speaking truck drivers in the name of highway safety.
The Transportation Department revoked commercial driver’s licenses for noncitizens, which a federal court temporarily paused last month. Duffy vowed to challenge that ruling. Illegal immigrants who drive trucks for a living have also been detained by federal immigration authorities in Oklahoma and Texas, among other states.
Additionally, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that his department paused worker visas for foreign-born truckers in an effort to keep highways safe and protect the jobs of U.S. citizens in the trucking industry. Afterwards, Duffy issued an emergency rule to restrict who was eligible for a nondomiciled CDL based on immigration status.
The nondomiciled CDLs apply to drivers who are neither U.S. citizens nor lawful permanent residents in the country.
Duffy’s actions, including the language crackdown, were in line with President Donald Trump’s April 28 executive order that charged the DOT’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration with enforcing the “commonsense” English requirement for foreign-born truck drivers.
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In conjunction with the order, Duffy rescinded an Obama-era policy from 2016 that dismissed English proficiency for commercial motor vehicle drivers.
“Federal law is clear, a driver who cannot sufficiently read or speak English—our national language—and understand road signs is unqualified to drive a commercial motor vehicle in America,” Duffy said in a statement at the time. “This commonsense standard should have never been abandoned. This Department will always put America’s truck drivers first.”
