Thousands of Truck Drivers, Targeted by Trump, May Lose Their Licenses
Hundreds of thousands of truckers could be taken off America’s roads under the Trump administration’s new management and safety initiative.
President Donald Trump on Jan 24 brought new attention to his administration’s attacks by highlighting the tragic injury of teenager Dalilah Coleman, who was seriously injured when the car she was riding in was hit by a speeding foreign-born truck driver at a construction site in California.
Coleman, who was 5 years old at the time, attended the State of the Union address on Feb. 24 as a guest of Trump, who noted that he has traumatic brain injury and cerebral palsy as a result of the accident.
“Many, if not all, illegal aliens do not speak English and cannot read even basic road signs,” Trump said during his speech. “That’s why tonight, I’m asking Congress to pass what we’ll call ‘Dalilah’s Law,’ which prohibits any state from issuing commercial driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants.”
According to federal officials, the truck driver who crashed his family’s car crossed into the United States from Mexico in 2022, was released by the Biden administration and eventually obtained a California driver’s license (CDL).
Like regular driver’s licenses, states can issue CDLs to truck drivers even if they do not have legal residency in the state. The White House recently warned states to stop issuing CDLs to unscreened foreigners, except for truck drivers from Canada and Mexico who regularly cross the border to deliver.
Who drives American trucks?
There are approximately 3.5 million licensed truck drivers in the United States, ranging from bus drivers to RV delivery drivers and over-the-road truck owners.
The Department of Transportation has also been encouraging states, which oversee CDLs and trucking, to enforce existing laws requiring drivers to be proficient in the English language.
Earlier this month, federal inspectors proposed closing more than 550 trucking schools after concluding they were deceptive or inappropriate practices. Federal officials say at least 194,000 licensed motor carriers may be affected by attacks on non-American drivers.
The 37,000-member American Trucking Associations trade group has backed Trump’s efforts, arguing that better truck enforcement and tougher laws will help make the roads safer for all drivers. CDL holders are subject to strict hours limits when driving, and must be tested periodically to ensure they are safe to drive.
“We support President Trump’s efforts to ensure that only well-trained, fully qualified, and English-speaking drivers drive the 80,000 commercial vehicles,” ATA President and CEO Chris Spear said in a statement. “We stand ready to work with the administration and Congress to develop policies that raise standards and keep our roads safe.”
Criticizing immigrant CDL holders
The law proposed by Trump on Jan. 24 will coincide with a series of regulatory and enforcement changes implemented by the federal Department of Transportation, which oversees motor carriers.
Although CDLs are generally governed by state laws and regulations, they are issued by states. Drivers and trucking schools have discovered loopholes in the existing system that allow some non-citizens to obtain CDLs without background checks on their driving records in their home states, according to federal officials. In some cases, truck drivers have illegally obtained Mexican truck licenses and used them to qualify for equivalent US CDLs.
Federal officials last summer ordered a temporary freeze on the issuance of CDLs to foreign-born truck drivers.
“For too long, America has allowed dangerous foreign drivers to abuse our truck licensing system – wreaking havoc on our roads. This loophole ends today,” Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy said in a statement.
Federal officials said at least 17 fatal crashes and 30 deaths by 2025 were caused by truck drivers who will now be ineligible for a CDL under the new rules, which will mostly affect drivers from countries outside of Mexico or Canada, truckers who often work under a special cross-border program.
US citizens or CDL green card holders were linked to 85,000 injuries and 4,700 deaths last year, according to federal statistics.
The Sikhs criticized the new approach
Critics of the president’s move say it’s wrongly targeted: Non-citizen CDL holders accounted for less than 2% of all large truck crashes nationwide last year while accounting for about 4% of all CDL holders, according to federal regulatory documents.
Among the most vocal critics of the measures are Indian-born Sikhs, who make up about 150,000 members of the trucking community, according to regulatory data. Tens of thousands of Sikhs sought asylum in the United States during the Biden presidency, many of them crossing the Mexican border without prior permission.
In testimony to federal regulators, some critics also worried that the crackdown on foreign drivers would cause them to lose their jobs and their homes at the same time — many truckers stay in their homes ‒ while raising the cost of goods for American consumers.
The White House has repeatedly cited Sikh truck drivers as a cause for concern, including California-licensed truck driver Harjinder Singh, who is charged with causing a fatal crash on August 12, 2025, in Florida that killed three people. Federal officials said in a social media post that Singh is an illegal immigrant and does not speak English well until he was issued a California CDL.
The US-based group Sikhs For Justice has donated $100,000 to the victims of the accident in which Singh is accused. The group also proposed donating $1 billion to Trump’s Institute for Peace as a condition for holding a referendum on devising a state for Sikhs from parts of India.
This article first appeared in USA TODAY: Thousands of truck drivers, targeted by Trump, could lose their licenses
Trevor Hughes, USA TODAY / USA TODAY reports
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
