Trump Pulls Truckers Who Failed English Off Roads

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said more than 9,500 commercial truckers have been taken out of service for failing English-language proficiency checks, a cumulative enforcement tally he said highlights an ongoing effort to keep unqualified operators from posing dangers on the nation’s roads.

“We’ve now knocked 9,500 truck drivers out of service for failing to speak our national language — ENGLISH!” Duffy wrote in a Dec. 10 post on X. “This administration will always put you and your family’s safety first.”

The tally reflects cumulative enforcement actions taken since May, when the Department of Transportation reinstated out-of-service penalties for drivers who cannot read or speak English well enough to operate a commercial motor vehicle.

President Donald Trump and Duffy have both said the renewed enforcement is necessary to ensure truckers can understand road signs, communicate with police and inspectors, and follow instructions at checkpoints and weigh stations.

“America First means safety first,” Duffy said in May. “Americans are a lot safer on roads alongside truckers who can understand and interpret our traffic signs. This common-sense change ensures the penalty for failure to comply is more than a slap on the wrist.”

The crackdown comes after Trump signed an executive order in March designating English as the official language of the United States. In April, he signed another order directing Duffy to ensure that commercial truck drivers who fail to meet English-language proficiency standards are taken out of service.

“My Administration will enforce the law to protect the safety of American truckers, drivers, passengers, and others, including by upholding the safety enforcement regulations that ensure that anyone behind the wheel of a commercial vehicle is properly qualified and proficient in our national language, English,” Trump wrote in the April order. “This is common sense.”

Trump’s April order scrapped an Obama-era rule under which inspectors could cite truckers for failing English requirements but were not allowed to remove them from service, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said in a May memo.

Fatal Crashes Prompt Wider Crackdown

The English-proficiency push is part of a broader campaign to tighten oversight of commercial licensing after a series of fatal crashes involving foreign or nondomiciled drivers. Several of those drivers were later found to have failed English tests or held licenses issued in error by states.

In one Florida case, Indian national Harjinder Singh was accused of killing three people after making an illegal U-turn in a semi-truck.

Officials said Singh—who was in the United States illegally—failed an English exam, answered only two of 12 questions correctly, and could identify just one of four road signs. Despite that, Washington state issued him a full-term commercial driver’s license (CDL) in 2023, and California issued a second CDL in 2024.

Singh pleaded not guilty in September. The Epoch Times reached out to Singh’s attorney for comment at the time but did not receive a response.

Federal reviews have identified similar cases in California, New York, Pennsylvania, and other states, prompting widespread scrutiny of state licensing practices.

States Face Pressure, Funding Loss

The mass disqualifications follow the Transportation Department’s ongoing audit of how states issue nondomiciled CDLs to foreign drivers. In September, Duffy issued emergency restrictions after auditors found a “catastrophic pattern” of noncompliance in multiple jurisdictions, and California was singled out as the most severe case.

The audit found that more than 25 percent of California’s nondomiciled CDLs were issued improperly, many to drivers whose lawful presence in the United States had expired months or years earlier. One Brazilian national received endorsements to operate school buses after his immigration documents had lapsed, in a case the Transportation Department described as shocking.

“What our team has discovered should disturb and anger every American,” Duffy said in September. “Licenses to operate a massive, 80,000-pound truck are being issued to dangerous foreign drivers–often times illegally. This is a direct threat to the safety of every family on the road, and I won’t stand for it.”

The Transportation Department has since threatened to withhold tens of millions of dollars in federal highway safety funds from California, Washington, and New Mexico unless they fully enforce English-language rules and revoke improperly issued licenses. California alone risks losing more than $40 million, although state officials have said they already require English testing during commercial road exams.

The language crackdown coincides with heightened immigration enforcement targeting commercial drivers who are in the country illegally.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in October that 146 illegal immigrants operating semi-trucks were arrested during a joint ICE–Indiana State Police operation near the Illinois border. More than 40 drivers held CDLs issued by states including California, Illinois, and New York.

“Far too many innocent Americans have been killed by illegal aliens driving semi-trucks and big rigs,” Noem said in an Oct. 30 statement. “And yet, sanctuary states around the country have been issuing illegal aliens commercial driver’s licenses. The Trump Administration is ending the chaos.”