The Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrant truckers : NPR

[ad_1] <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/7135x4830+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F79%2F8d%2Fd2ae8bd34c4fb6bb2e4e4432ac90%2Fgettyimages-2249775210.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/7135x4830+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F79%2F8d%2Fd2ae8bd34c4fb6bb2e4e4432ac90%2Fgettyimages-2249775210.jpg" class="img" alt="Heavy traffic clogs a highway full of passenger vehicles and tractor-trailers." fetchpriority="high"/> The White Home desires more durable guidelines for industrial licenses after a number of high-profile crashes involving foreign-born drivers. Critics say that may do little to make the nation's roads safer. Mario Tama/Getty Photographs disguise caption

toggle caption

Mario Tama/Getty Photographs Jorge Rivera has been industrial trucker within the U.S. for greater than a decade. So he was stunned when he went to resume his industrial driver's license final yr in Utah, the place he lives, and came upon that he could not.

"It was like a slap within the face, as a result of I've achieved every part the fitting method," Rivera mentioned. "I've stayed out of bother. I have been a law-abiding noncitizen, is what I wish to say."

Rivera was dropped at the U.S. illegally from Mexico when he was 2 years previous. He is enrolled within the Deferred Motion for Childhood Arrivals program, higher often called DACA, which granted him permission to legally work within the U.S., amongst different advantages, and allowed him to get a industrial driver's license in 2014 and begin his personal trucking firm.

"At this level, I am simply just about bracing for the worst," he mentioned.

Rivera is a part of a lawsuit searching for to dam proposed rules from the Division of Transportation. The adjustments have been sought by the Trump administration, which desires to make it tougher for immigrants with momentary authorized standing to get industrial driver's licenses after a number of high-profile crashes involving foreign-born drivers. However the administration's critics say that may do little to make the nation's roads safer.

By the DOT's personal estimate, the proposed rules would drive about 200,000 immigrants out of the trucking trade. That features asylum-seekers, in addition to immigrants with momentary protected standing or DACA.

"I do not know what I'd do, to be trustworthy with you," Rivera mentioned of the potential for dropping his trucking license. "I even have my firm title tattooed on my physique," he mentioned throughout a video interview. Together with his truck safely pulled off the street, Rivera confirmed off a tattoo on his arm along with his firm title and a freeway.

"Are you able to see the freeway, the mountains? The street is I-15. It is Utah, Colorado and Vegas," Rivera defined. "That is my route. That is what I do all yr. You may inform me proper now, a mile marker on I-15 or I-70 — you may inform me any mile marker in any state, and I may inform you what's there."

However even skilled drivers like Rivera may lose their licenses because the Trump administration's crackdown on immigrant truckers shifts into greater gear.

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4027x2683+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F77%2F79%2F22231cfd48828b76612ca25d307c%2Fgettyimages-2262892866.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4027x2683+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F77%2F79%2F22231cfd48828b76612ca25d307c%2Fgettyimages-2262892866.jpg" class="img" alt="Seven-year-old Dalilah Coleman is held by her father, Marcus Coleman, as he holds up a hand in acknowledgment. Others in the audience turn to look at them." loading="lazy"/> Seven-year-old Dalilah Coleman, who was critically injured in a automotive accident allegedly attributable to a truck driver who was within the nation illegally, is held by her father, Marcus Coleman, as they're acknowledged by President Trump throughout his State of the Union handle in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 24. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP through Getty Photographs disguise caption

toggle caption

Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP through Getty Photographs In the course of the State of the Union handle final month, President Trump urged Congress to move a regulation named after 7-year-old Dalilah Coleman. Two years in the past, Dalilah was severely injured when a tractor-trailer slammed into her household's automotive in California. Homeland Safety officers say an immigrant from India who crossed the southern border illegally was driving the truck.

"That is why tonight I am calling on Congress to move what we are going to name the Dalilah Regulation, barring any state from granting industrial driver's licenses to unlawful aliens," Trump mentioned in the course of the speech.

Republican Sen. Jim Banks of Indiana launched a invoice the very subsequent day.

"The Dalilah Regulation not solely bars states from giving CDLs to unlawful immigrants, nevertheless it additionally revokes all trucking licenses which can be at present issued to illegals," Banks mentioned throughout remarks on the Senate ground.

To be clear, states are already blocked from giving industrial driver's licenses to anybody within the U.S. illegally. Immigrants with momentary authorized standing do want work authorization from the federal authorities as a way to qualify for a CDL.

However the Dalilah Regulation, in addition to rules proposed by the DOT, would tighten these restrictions.

The D.C. Circuit Courtroom of Appeals put the brakes on the emergency model of these rules final yr. The DOT tried once more, issuing a ultimate rule that takes impact Monday.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says that is crucial as a result of state DMVs cannot consider the driving information of immigrants who haven't been totally vetted.

"We do not return and take a look at their driving document," Duffy mentioned throughout a press convention final month. "So we've zero perception into the form of individuals we're giving a industrial driver's license to."

<img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/5739x3826+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fa9%2F9f%2Fe4f0a76545deb2297f141a36f436%2Fgettyimages-2265975363.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/5739x3826+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fa9%2F9f%2Fe4f0a76545deb2297f141a36f436%2Fgettyimages-2265975363.jpg" class="img" alt="WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 11: U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy speaks during a panel at the BlackRock Infrastructure Summit on March 11, 2026 in Washington, DC. The global investment management company held the summit consisting of leaders from government, business, and labor to address expanding U.S. infrastructure. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)" loading="lazy"/> U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says state DMVs cannot consider the driving information of immigrants who haven't been totally vetted. "We've zero perception into the form of individuals we're giving a industrial driver's license to." Anna Moneymaker/Getty Photographs disguise caption

toggle caption

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Photographs Duffy referred to as that "unacceptable," saying the administration desires to "improve these requirements and make all of them equal, growing the necessities for a foreigner to get a industrial driver's license."

However regardless of some high-profile incidents, the Trump administration's critics say there is no information that exhibits drivers born elsewhere are much less protected drivers than U.S. residents or everlasting residents.

"There's completely no proof to help that declare," mentioned Wendy Liu, a lawyer on the nonprofit Public Citizen Litigation Group, the place she's main the authorized problem in opposition to the proposed rules.

"All people who will get a industrial driver's license has to move all the identical exams, has to do all the identical coaching," Liu mentioned throughout an interview. "Prohibiting them from having these licenses based mostly on their immigration standing simply would not make any sense."

Liu says each deadly crash is a tragedy. However the fitting response is to get unsafe drivers off the street, no matter the place they have been born.