The Department of Transportation has given nearly 3,000 truck driving schools and training providers 30 days to comply with federal requirements or face revocation of their accreditation, and warned about 4,000 more that they could face similar action. Together, those programs make up more than 40% of the nation’s roughly 16,000 authorized training providers, the DOT said, though it did not immediately release their names.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the move targets “illegal and reckless practices that let poorly trained drivers get behind the wheel of semi-trucks and school buses.” The department accuses many programs of falsifying or manipulating training records, failing to meet required curriculum standards and instructor qualifications, and not keeping or sharing accurate records.
The enforcement action is part of the administration’s broader effort to ensure commercial drivers are properly trained and eligible for a commercial driver’s license (CDL). The DOT also proposed new limits on which immigrants can obtain CDLs, but a federal appeals court recently put those rules on hold. The push for stricter rules followed a series of high-profile crashes involving foreign-born drivers, including a fatal three-vehicle crash in Florida in August.
Duffy has argued tougher standards are urgently needed because some foreign-born truckers lack English proficiency and knowledge of U.S. rules of the road. Critics counter that there is no data showing immigrant drivers are disproportionately unsafe and contend the policy effort amounts to an immigration crackdown by another name.
The developments have left many immigrant truckers anxious, including experienced drivers. Pawan Singh, owner of a small Northern Virginia trucking company, said a safety-focused crackdown was overdue and warned that poorly trained drivers—whether U.S.-born or immigrant—are dangerous behind the wheel.
