“Too many American lives have been lost in completely avoidable accidents because illegal aliens have been granted commercial driver’s licenses to drive trucks and 18-wheelers on America’s roadways,” Markwayne Mullin said.
The Trump administration has launched a nationwide crackdown on alleged commercial driver’s license fraud, announcing investigations into 75 truck driver training schools accused of improperly helping noncitizen drivers obtain commercial licenses and enter America’s highways.
The Department of Homeland Security Investigations and the Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced Thursday that the schools are suspected of violations including falsifying training records, using improper certifications, and failing to properly train applicants seeking commercial driver’s licenses.
According to DHS, the investigation focuses on the issuance of non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses, which allow certain foreign nationals who are legally present in the United States to obtain commercial driving privileges. Officials said the goal is to identify fraud and strengthen the integrity of the licensing system.
“FMCSA has identified approximately 75 entry-level driving training schools suspected of fraudulent activities, including using improper driver certifications, falsifying training records, and failing to properly train drivers applying for CDLs, among other violations,” DHS said. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said the investigation was part of a broader effort to prevent dangerous drivers from operating heavy commercial vehicles. “Too many American lives have been lost in completely avoidable accidents because illegal aliens have been granted commercial driver's licenses to drive trucks and 18-wheelers on America's roadways,” Mullin said. “DHS law enforcement is partnering with the Department of Transportation to eliminate CDL fraud, strengthen the integrity of the CDL system, and investigate commercial driver’s license schools throughout the country,” he added.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the effort expands previous DOT actions targeting drivers and training programs that officials say failed to meet safety requirements. “USDOT has spent the last year rooting out bad actors from our trucking industry,” Duffy said. “We’ve knocked over 24,000 drivers off our roads for failing to speak English, forced states to cancel over 28,000 licenses illegally issued to foreign drivers, and purged over 9,500 unqualified training schools from our FMCSA registry.”
The announcement follows several high-profile deadly truck crashes that intensified scrutiny of commercial licensing standards, including cases involving foreign-born drivers accused of serious violations. One of the most shocking cases involved case involved Jashanpreet Singh, a 21-year-old truck driver accused of causing a deadly chain-reaction crash on Interstate 10 in San Bernardino County, California, in 2025. Federal officials argued the incident exposed weaknesses in state-level licensing procedures after Singh obtained a commercial license months before the crash.
The joint DHS-DOT investigation will now examine the 75 identified training schools as officials continue reviewing commercial driver licensing practices nationwide.
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