US Freezes Work Visas for Commercial Truck Drivers
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Effective immediately, the Trump administration is blocking foreign drivers from obtaining visas to drive commercial trucks on U.S. roads.
“We are pausing all issuance of worker visas for commercial truck drivers,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced via X on Aug. 21. “The increasing number of foreign drivers operating large tractor-trailer trucks on U.S. roads is endangering American lives and undercutting the livelihoods of American truckers.”
Rubio’s announcement comes on the heels of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy launching an investigation into a fatal Aug. 12 crash in Florida.A truck driven by an undocumented immigrant who had obtained commercial driver licenses from California and Washington was involved in a collision with a passenger vehicle, killing three people.
Effective immediately we are pausing all issuance of worker visas for commercial truck drivers.
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio)
The increasing number of foreign drivers operating large tractor-trailer trucks on U.S. roads is endangering American lives and undercutting the livelihoods of American truckers.
“Non-enforcement and radical immigration policies have turned the trucking industry into a lawless frontier, resulting in unqualified foreign drivers improperly acquiring licenses to operate 40-ton vehicles,” Duffy said Aug. 19.
President Donald Trump in April mandating that commercial drivers in the U.S. , and which directed the federal government to closely monitor commercial driver licenses issued by states to individuals who do not reside in the U.S.
RELATED:Trucking Backs English Tests as Enforcement Begins
In June, inspectors began issuing out-of-service violations for truckers unable to pass roadside tests for communicating in English and understanding road signs. The move supported both Trump’s executive order as well as a subsequent mandate from Duffy. While the law had been on the books, implementation of out-of-service violations for language proficiency had been suspended during the Obama administration.
President Chris Spear issued this statement Aug. 21:
“ATA supports pausing work visas for commercial drivers and believes the issuance of non-domiciled CDLs needs serious scrutiny, including the enforcement of entry-level driver training standards. At a minimum, we need better accounting of how many non-domiciled CDLs are being issued, which is why we applaud Transportation Secretary Duffy for launching a nationwide audit in June upon our request. We also believe a surge in enforcement of key regulations — including motor carrier compliance — is necessary to prevent bad actors from operating on our nation's highways, and we'll continue to partner with federal and state authorities to identify where those gaps in enforcement exist.”
California and Washington are among 19 states that issue driver licenses to undocumented immigrants. The others are Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont and Virginia. The District of Columbia does, as well.
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