Safer roads, more work: Truckers welcome crackdown on illegal drivers

Thousands of foreign truck drivers have already lost, or are about to lose, their commercial driver’s licenses amid a nationwide effort to enforce new federal rules. 

Despite an estimated nationwide shortage of 115,000 big-rig drivers, industry leaders say these regulatory changes are necessary to promote road safety, better wages, and more job opportunities for U.S.-born drivers. 

“My response is absolutely we can handle it because [unqualified foreign drivers] shouldn’t be on the road to begin with,” said John Esparza, president and CEO of the Texas Trucking Association. “We are in the process of cleaning it out.” 

A rise in truck-related deaths involving foreign drivers led the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to launch a broad audit in June to identify which states had issued licenses incorrectly. 

This followed other Department of Transportation actions, such as requiring English proficiency for truck drivers. 

FMCSA audit results published in September revealed that thousands of CDLs had been issued improperly. Of the approximately 4 million commercial driver license holders in the United States, the FMCSA found that almost 200,000 were issued to foreign nationals who did not live in the country or the issuing state. 

As a result, Colorado, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas and Washington stopped issuing certain licenses to out-of-state foreign drivers. Nevada has announced plans to phase out about 1,000 limited-term commercial driver’s licenses for non-domiciled haulers. 

In November, California revoked the licenses of 17,000 foreign drivers that had been improperly issued. 

The DOT said the 17,000 drivers have been notified that “their license no longer meets federal requirements and will expire in 60 days.” 

There are more than 130,000 license holders statewide. 

Meanwhile, Texas is actively reviewing thousands of commercial licenses and suspending those that fail to meet the latest requirements. 

Texas is home to almost 200,000 commercial truck drivers, the most in the nation, according to the Texas Comptroller’s office. In 2024, the state issued 6,265 CDLs to foreign drivers. 

This September, Texas halted the issuance of non-domicile licenses in response to the FMCSA’s findings. 

Although this decision sidelines some drivers, Esparza emphasized that the outcome is safer roads for everyone. 

His organization supports the crackdown on improperly licensed foreign drivers “100%,” he said. 

“We continue to support the administration and what they’ve been doing the last several months, their goals, because it will just make our highways safer and ultimately save lives,” Esparza said. 

Each day in Texas, trucks travel along 323,364 miles of public roads and move more than 2.2 million tons of freight, according to the American Transportation Research Institute. 

In 2023, the National Safety Council reported that Texas topped the nation in truck-related road deaths with 730 lives lost, while California and Florida followed with 392 and 341 fatalities, respectively. 

Recent crashes highlight the growing problem. 

Law enforcement officers arrested illegal immigrant Jashanpreet Singh in October on charges of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and driving under the influence. Homeland Security said Sing allegedly caused the Oct. 21 crash that killed three people and seriously injured several others in Ontario, California. 

“Frankly, it was easily avoidable if the defendant was not driving in a grossly negligent manner and impaired,” San Bernardino County District Attorney Jason Anderson said in a statement at the time. 

On Dec. 4, an illegal immigrant from Mexico was driving an 18-wheeler when he allegedly slammed into another vehicle, causing a six-car pile-up, including with a school bus in Lacey, Washington, according to the Department of Homeland Security. 

State authorities said the man, Juan Hernandez-Santos, did not possess a commercial driver’s license. 

In August, the U.S. Marshals Service arrested Harjinder Singh in Stockton, California, on three counts of vehicle homicide. 

Singh, 28, was wanted by the Florida Highway Patrol for allegedly operating a semi-truck that attempted to make a U-turn, crossing directly in front of another vehicle. 

This maneuver caused the car to crash into the trailer, resulting in the deaths of three people inside the vehicle. The crash occurred on Florida’s Turnpike in St. Lucie County on Aug. 12.

‘It’s Common Sense’ 

Albert Cardona has spent nearly half his life driving a semi-truck in California. 

In that time, he has seen many road accidents that could have been avoided if drivers had used better judgment. 

With California taking back 17,000 truck driving licenses issued illegally to foreign drivers, he hopes this will make the roads safer. 

“The main thing is, why are they having a lot of accidents? It’s because they don’t care,” Cardona said as he filled up his semi at the Flying J truck stop in Phoenix. 

“I never go past 70 mph. I’m always checking the road,” he said. 

Cardona, 50, said he began driving trucks in his early 30s after getting the proper training and a commercial driver’s license. 

He says that even though there are more foreign truck drivers now — some legally licensed, some not — everyone should understand the universal road signs and follow safe driving rules. 

“It’s common sense,” he said. 

He also believes there are enough local truck drivers to fill the 17,000 positions left by foreign drivers, and that there is still plenty of work to go around. 

“Now, we’re getting calls like never before. Before, I had to make calls and say I needed the work. Now, they call me,” Cardona said. 

Esparza said the main issue is companies attempting to cut costs by hiring drivers without the properly attained licenses. This practice affects road safety and lowers wages for all truckers. 

In 2023, long-haul truck drivers across the country made an average of $75,144, while drivers in Texas earned a lower average of $55,991, according to the Texas Trucking Association. 

“If there are no penalties or consequences for a shipper looking for the lowest cost to move freight, you’re going to find a steady stream of people unlawfully,” Esparza said. “These individuals are causing accidents.” 

Working in the trucking industry, moreover, requires constant training, he said. 

“It’s not simply driving a truck. It’s got so many facets working in concert to keep our highways safe,” Esparza said. 

Esparza said the answer is to remove these drivers from the workforce and let qualified license holders take their place. 

“When you’re talking about a driver shortage, there are thousands of drivers that aren’t qualified who obtained a CDL, who can’t speak English, and can’t handle the equipment,” Esparza said. 

“They are taking actual live jobs and loads from American CDL-holders, or those who have properly obtained them.” 

No Immediate Impact 

Port of Los Angeles Director Gene Seroka says it is unclear how the 17,000 revoked truck driver licenses will affect the port’s operations in the long term. 

“It’s not going to have an immediate impact on what we see as commercial viability for our port or over-the-road transportation requirements from our mutual customers,” he said. 

“We will continue to watch this very closely as policy evolves.” 

The revoked licenses amount to about 2.5 percent of all commercial truck licenses across California, he said during a November cargo news briefing. 

The Port of Los Angeles is the busiest in the country, moving more than 10 million shipping containers in 2024. 

Seroka said there are almost 20,000 licensed drivers at the port every day, half of whom are there at least once a week for duties. 

On Dec. 2, Rep. Young Kim, R-Calif., sent a letter to California Gov. Gavin Newsom demanding answers about the state licensing system. 

She asked how the state allowed 17,000 commercial driver’s licenses to be issued to foreign drivers who were in the country illegally. 

“For too long, Sacramento has welcomed lawlessness, fraud, and abuse into our homes,” Kim said in a statement. “American lives have been lost because of this negligence.” 

‘CDL Mills’ 

Esparza said many unqualified and foreign drivers received their licenses from so-called “CDL Mills,” truck driver training schools known for bypassing regulations and issuing licenses with minimal instruction. 

On Dec. 1, the DOT announced it had removed 3,000 commercial driver’s license training schools from the FMCSA Training Provider Registry because they did not meet the new standards. 

The registry lists all providers authorized to offer federally required entry-level driver training for CDL students. 

The American Trucking Associations, the country’s leading voice for truckers, hailed the removal of 3,000 CDL training providers and the warning issued to 4,000 more. 

“Training someone to operate an 80,000-pound vehicle is not a weekend hobby. It is a profession built on standards, discipline, and responsibility,” ATA President and CEO Chris Spear said in a Dec. 1 statement. 

“The Trump administration has sent the right message: if you’re running a CDL mill or if you’re issuing certificates to anyone who can fog a mirror, you’re on notice.” 

Spear emphasized that the organization has long pushed for tougher oversight and real accountability to root out fraudulent or subpar CDL training providers that put public safety and trust at risk. 

The ATA welcomed the administration’s move to completely revamp the vetting process for Electronic Logging Devices used by truckers, a step that will help keep non-compliant devices off the FMCSA’s registry, Spear said. 

The DOT warned that this is the first step in FMCSA’s review of the 16,000 training providers on the registry to identify and remove those not in compliance with federal rules. 

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