Feds expose deadly toll of migrant CDL loophole after 146 arrests in single sting

• The DOT is withholding over $40 million in federal safety funds from California for non-compliance with English proficiency requirements for commercial drivers.
• A nationwide audit of non-resident commercial driver’s licenses is underway, citing systemic failures in states like California, Illinois and New York.
• The policy crackdown follows fatal accidents involving truck drivers who were in the country illegally and held commercial licenses from sanctuary states.
• Federal authorities recently arrested 146 commercial truck drivers who were illegal immigrants during a single operation in Indiana.
• Officials frame the issue as a critical public safety and national security threat, arguing lax state policies have endangered American motorists.

In a sweeping move to address what federal officials are calling a grave public safety failure, the Trump administration is enacting a major crackdown on states that issue commercial driver’s licenses to individuals illegally present in the country. The initiative, spearheaded by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, combines financial penalties against non-compliant states with a nationwide audit of license issuance, spurred by a series of fatal accidents and a recent high-profile sting operation that revealed the scale of the problem. The administration contends that sanctuary state policies have created a loophole allowing unvetted and sometimes unqualified drivers to operate multi-ton vehicles, turning American highways into potential death traps.

The enforcement hammer falls

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has initiated its promised financial penalties, formally withholding $40.7 million in federal Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program (MCSAP) funding from California. Officials determined the state is the only one in the nation refusing to adopt and enforce federal English Language Proficiency (ELP) standards for commercial drivers. These funds are typically used by states to conduct critical safety initiatives, including roadside inspections of large trucks and audits of trucking companies. Secretary Duffy condemned California’s intransigence, stating the state’s failure to ensure drivers can read road signs and communicate with law enforcement is a “fundamental safety issue.” The action follows an August warning from the DOT that states risked losing funds if they did not comply with the federal mandate.

A pattern of tragedy and systemic failure

The policy overhaul comes in the wake of several devastating incidents that have highlighted the potential consequences of the administration’s identified systemic failures. In Florida, a crash involving a commercial truck driven by Harjinder Singh resulted in three fatalities. Federal authorities later confirmed Singh was in the country illegally at the time he was issued a commercial license by California. In a separate California incident, Jashanpreet Singh, who entered the U.S. illegally in 2022, was charged with driving under the influence and gross vehicular manslaughter after a multi-vehicle crash on Interstate 10 that killed three people. These cases, according to officials at the Department of Homeland Security, are part of a “disturbing trend” of fatal accidents involving illegal immigrants operating large commercial vehicles.

The scope of the problem revealed

The theoretical threat was given concrete form on October 30, when Secretary Kristi Noem announced the results of “Operation Midway Blitz,” a coordinated enforcement action with Indiana State Police. The operation led to the arrest of 223 illegal aliens on Indiana highways, 146 of whom were commercial truck drivers. The operation revealed that the top states issuing commercial driver’s licenses to those arrested were Illinois, California and New York. The criminal histories of those apprehended included serious offenses such as driving under the influence, drug trafficking, assault and fraud. This single operation demonstrated the extensive penetration of illegal immigrant drivers into the national trucking industry, a sector critical to the nation’s supply chain.

Industry dynamics and political pushback

The crackdown occurs against a backdrop of a persistent truck driver shortage, which the industry estimates to be between 60,000 and 80,000 drivers. Pro-immigration advocacy groups argue that foreign-born drivers play an outsized role in stabilizing supply chains, especially with an aging domestic workforce. However, the Trump administration has forcefully rejected the notion that this labor shortage justifies what it deems unsafe practices. Secretary Duffy has asserted that there are plenty of American drivers willing to fill these roles and that illegal drivers often undercut wages and safety standards. The administration’s position has ignited fierce political battles, with California Governor Gavin Newsom’s office publicly mocking Secretary Duffy amid an ongoing legal and ideological conflict between the state and the White House over immigration enforcement.

Restoring order to the road

The Trump administration’s multi-pronged offensive—combining financial leverage, federal audits and aggressive immigration enforcement—signals a fundamental shift in how the federal government intends to regulate the commercial trucking industry’s workforce. By framing the issue not merely as an immigration violation but as a direct threat to national security and public safety, officials have justified a stringent response. The withholding of funds from California serves as a stark warning to other states that the administration is prepared to escalate its efforts to ensure, in its view, that American highways are protected from what it characterizes as a preventable crisis born from state-level non-cooperation. The coming months will determine whether this federal pressure compels state-level compliance or deepens the political stalemate.

Sources for this article include:

TheEpochTimes.com

Transportation.gov

DHS.gov

Newsweek.com