Federal Department of Transportation Implements New CDL Regulations Amid Safety and Immigration Debates
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has announced new regulations aimed at modifying eligibility requirements for Commercial Driver's Licenses (CDLs). These changes follow a series of crashes involving foreign-born truck drivers, notably an incident in August in Fort Pierce, Florida.
Harjinder Singh, an Indian-born driver, was involved in a crash that resulted in three fatalities. Authorities alleged Singh made an illegal U-turn. The Department of Homeland Security stated Singh was illegally present in the U.S., a claim contested by California Governor Gavin Newsom, who asserted Singh held a valid work permit when he applied for his CDL. Singh has entered a plea of not guilty to three counts of vehicular homicide.
DOT's Rationale for Policy Changes
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced the new regulations in September, stating that the existing CDL issuance process was "100% broken" and posed a "threat to public safety." Duffy emphasized the presence of foreign-born truckers who, he claimed, lacked proficiency in English or adequate knowledge of road rules, leading to safety concerns and loss of life. The DOT's objective is to enhance national road safety through stricter CDL requirements.
Criticisms and Industry Concerns
Critics of the new regulations argue there is no empirical data to substantiate claims that foreign-born truckers are inherently less safe than native-born drivers. These critics contend that the policy shift represents a disguised effort at immigration enforcement.
Pawan Singh, an owner of a trucking company in Northern Virginia, acknowledged some existing safety issues within the industry, such as inadequate training provided by certain CDL schools. However, he also expressed concern that the new rules disproportionately target foreign-born drivers, particularly members of the Sikh community, who are visibly identifiable. He highlighted that safety issues stemming from insufficient training are not exclusive to immigrant drivers. Cassandra Zimmer-Wong, an immigration policy analyst at the Niskanen Center, echoed the sentiment that safety data does not support a link between a driver's country of origin and their driving record. She suggested the rule's primary intent was to reduce immigrant employment in the sector.
Regulatory Actions and Legal Challenges
The Trump administration's emergency rule proposes to significantly restrict CDL eligibility for immigrants lacking permanent legal status, potentially impacting up to 200,000 truckers by limiting eligibility to those on specific temporary visas. The federal DOT is also pressuring states to revoke CDLs issued with validity dates extending beyond an applicant's federal work authorization expiration.
California has initiated the revocation of 17,000 CDLs due to non-compliance with state law, which mandates that CDL expiration dates must align with legal presence documents. Additionally, the DOT has threatened to withhold $75 million in federal funding from Pennsylvania unless the state revokes CDLs deemed illegally issued under these new interpretations.
A panel of judges from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has temporarily blocked the emergency rule, pending a legal challenge. The Trump administration is continuing efforts to make the rule permanent.