Reported by C-SPAN, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy spoke at a news conference in Detroit, highlighting severe gaps in training standards in these schools, citing that one lacked even basic facilities.
“One school that we're shutting down was so flippant, as they told us their classroom was the school bus that was in the backyard. That was the classroom for which they were training new truck drivers,” Duffy explained.
He reported that federal audits also uncovered state-certified testers improperly issuing commercial licenses to drivers (CDLs) who failed basic English proficiency requirements.
“We have 10 skill testers who have given over 2,000 driver’s licenses to people who can't speak English. This is the simplest of tests... And over 2,000 could not speak or read English, and they still were able to get a state license,” Duffy stated.
Jenna Ellis is a conservative commentor who spoke on this issue on her American Family Radio (AFR) morning show.
“The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration chief said that each of these 110 greatest offenders that are being shut down passed at least 10 drivers who were subsequently cited for English language proficiency during roadside inspections by law enforcement, and he went on to cite multiple examples where drivers who were illegally granted licenses killed people in crashes while on the job,” Ellis said.
She also noted that Homeland Security Secretary Mark Wayne Mullin said ICE found that over 100 individuals granted CDLs had no name listed.
AFN reported on one of these cases in December of last year. Harjinder Singh, born in India and illegally in the U.S., made an illegal U-turn in a semi-truck that resulted in a crash and the deaths of three people. While the wreck happened in Florida, Singh was granted his CDL by the state of California.
Joined by victims' families, Duffy emphasized that the joint effort with Homeland Security and federal prosecutors aims to remove safety hazards from major highways.
“All I'm saying is, if you're here illegally and you can't speak the language, and you're not well-trained, you don't deserve to be in a big rig driving on American roads, endangering American citizens,” Duffy said.
According to Spectrum News, 110 driving schools were shutdown for failing to meet English proficiency standards, and another 160 schools were shut down because of various violations against DOT training regulations.
The enforcement effort remains ongoing.
Tho Bishop, director at the Mises Institute, told Ellis this case really shows a deeper, more systemic issue — the double standard of federal policy.
“Whenever you have a desired outcome, there are things in the margin, be they explicit rule changes or simply looking the other way, allowing for certain outcomes. That's what we've had in this country for a very long time — a bias often in favor of immigrants over competency and other dynamics, that create a very systemically fraudulent dynamic that allows for this sort of very broad issue to pop up, particularly in industry which has such a major public safety dynamic for it,” Bishop stated.
