The Trump administration is continuing its campaign against immigrants driving commercial vehicles. After ICE arrests and the statement that immigrants should be replaced with army veterans, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced in Detroit on 31 August 2026 the urgent removal of more than 110 professional driver training providers from the federal Entry-Level Driver Training (ELDT) register. The removal affects some schools listed in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Training Provider Registry. From that point, they must stop lessons, use of facilities and on-road training. To justify the measure, the FMCSA said it had cross-checked roadside inspection data, including violations of the English Language Proficiency (ELP) requirement, with registry data and certificates issued by training centres, identifying some that had trained drivers who were later found to be unfit. These 110 schools were described as being "associated" with more than 5,000 drivers stopped for that reason, but this link has not so far led to the revocation of their licences.
To carry out the investigation, the FMCSA sent 175 inspectors to 40 states for almost 400 checks, finding irregularities at training centres ranging from inadequate manoeuvring yards to a classroom set up in a bus parked behind a trailer. The result was a proposal to remove more than 160 centres. At the same time, a nationwide check began on those administering practical tests, which under the rules must be conducted in English. The U.S. Department of Justice has also set up the Joint Task Force Crossroads of America, bringing together eight U.S. attorney’s offices from Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio, along with the FBI, DEA, ICE and ATF. It is an investigative and co-ordination body specialising in trucking fraud, including offences involving licences, driving schools, examiners, carriers and drivers.
At the centre of the measure removing training centres is the language requirement, which has been in force for several years but, since 25 June 2025, a breach has resulted in the vehicle being placed immediately out of service. The rule does not require an academic level of English or U.S. citizenship. The inspector checks that the driver can answer a number of questions related to their work and read road signs, regardless of nationality, the carrier’s country of domicile or the type of licence held, including Canadian licences or Mexico’s Licencia Federal de Conductor. However, a violation does not automatically entail the withdrawal of the driver’s CDL qualification or driving licence, which falls under the authority of the state that issued it.
Still on the subject of immigrant drivers, a class action filed on 22 December 2025 by Sikh Coalition, Asian Law Caucus and Weil, Gotshal & Manges against the California Department of Motor Vehicles is under way to prevent the cancellation of around 20,000 commercial vehicle licences. The case concerns the alignment between the duration of commercial licences and the duration of federal work authorisation, as well as the procedural guarantees offered to drivers before and after cancellation.
Pietro Rossoni
