Keeping Our Roads Safe

Last year in Tennessee, an illegal immigrant who didn’t speak English was able to get a commercial driver’s license (CDL) illegally in New York. He then got behind the wheel of a semi and caused a crash, killing one person.  In another case, an illegal immigrant from India got a CDL in California and caused a crash in Oregon, killing two people. These are only a couple of tragic stories, but the list is getting longer every single day.

The Biden Administration’s open border policy flooded our roads with illegal immigrants with CDLs, and the results have been deadly.  There's absolutely no reason we should be handing out CDL’s to unqualified drivers, many of whom can’t even speak or read English.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) audited several states’ CDL policies, and the results are astounding. In New York, the audit revealed that over half of the CDLs issued to foreign truck drivers were issued illegally. In California, they found 17,000 illegally issued CDLs. Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and at least 15 other states to date were also found to be in violation. This is a widespread issue with states exploiting loopholes to allow illegal immigrants and other unqualified foreign drivers on our roads. It’s got to stop.

I'm grateful DOT Secretary Sean Duffy is cracking down on illegal CDL’s. Just this week, Secretary Duffy closed two loopholes that these states took advantage of to issue illegal CDL’s. One allowed State Driver’s Licensing Agencies to issue CDLs to foreign drivers without verifying their driving history. The other allowed them to rely on Employment Authorization Documents, which do not screen for transportation safety. More than 30 states illegally issued tens of thousands of licenses to ineligible foreign drivers as a result. Those loopholes are now being closed.

We still have to get all the illegal and potentially dangerous foreign truck drivers off the road, and we’re doing that now. Over just 3 days in January, targeted operations removed nearly 2,000 unqualified truck drivers and vehicles from our roadways. Almost 500 drivers were placed out of service for not meeting English proficiency standards.

This is about safety. If you’re unqualified to drive in our country and can’t speak, read, and write the English that our road and traffic signs are written in, you’ve got no business getting behind the wheel of an 18-wheeler and driving it across the country. I’m glad Secretary Duffy has made fixing this dangerous issue a priority, and I look forward to strengthening our laws in the Highway Bill that I’m currently writing. We’ve got to put a stop to this once and for all.

Sincerely,

Sam Graves