By Frank Giles
Recent high-profile stories of tragic accidents involving truck drivers who are not citizens of the United States have heated up the immigration debate. In August, a truck driver made an illegal U-turn on Florida’s Turnpike resulting in an accident that took three people’s lives.
The driver obtained a commercial driver’s license in California and Washington, despite having entered the country illegally in 2018 and his immigration status being subject to ongoing legal proceedings. After the wreck, the driver was extradited to Florida where he faces three counts of vehicular homicide in St. Lucie County. The story made headlines across the nation.
Wreck Reaction
In September, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced a new rule, which it said would close loopholes in the licensing of truck drivers. The DOT noted an audit by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) showed a pattern of states issuing licenses illegally to foreign drivers, as well as the fact that even if the current regulatory framework is followed, it can fail.
According to the DOT, “Moving forward, non-citizens will not be eligible for a non-domiciled commercial driver’s license (CDL) unless they meet a much stricter set of rules, including an employment-based visa and undergoing a mandatory federal immigration status check using the SAVE system.”
Earlier In April, President Trump announced an executive order (Enforcing Commonsense Rules of the Road for America’s Truck Drivers) stating that commercial truck drivers who fail to comply with longstanding English-language proficiency requirements would be placed out of service.
In October, Florida’s attorney general filed a lawsuit directly to the U.S. Supreme Court to prevent California and Washington from issuing CDLs to people who are not in the country legally. This action cited a DOT/FMCSA statement in August that California, Washington and New Mexico would lose federal money if they did not enforce English-language proficiency requirements for commercial truck drivers.
The Florida lawsuit contends the states, “chose to ignore these standards and authorize illegal immigrants without proper training or the ability to read road signs to drive commercial motor vehicles.”
Impacts on Transportation
This increased scrutiny on truck drivers has various sectors that rely on transportation considering how this might impact the movement of their goods across the country.
One analysis of FMCSA data indicates more than 50,000 citations have resulted from the enhanced enforcement of the English-proficiency mandate. Florida has intensified checks on truck drivers using agricultural inspection station checkpoints.
Immigrant drivers are estimated to be 700,000 nationwide. Many of these drivers haul agricultural goods. To date, however, there has not been much reporting that agricultural transportation has been disrupted by the increased enforcement on truck driver requirements.
Most agricultural associations have not made official comments on the policy or how it is impacting farms and the movement of agricultural goods. However, groups like the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (representing 150,000 drivers) have strongly endorsed the mandate for safety reasons.