The Trump administration will immediately pause the issuance of all worker visas for commercial truck drivers, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Aug. 21.
“The increasing number of foreign drivers operating large tractor-trailer trucks on U.S. roads is endangering American lives and undercutting the livelihoods of American truckers,” he said.
President Donald Trump has taken a series of steps to address concerns about foreign truck drivers who don’t speak English. In response to these concerns, Trump in April signed an executive order directing enforcement of a rule requiring commercial drivers in the United States to meet English-proficiency standards.
The move comes after Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced that there was an investigation underway by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration into a fatal crash involving an Indian national who doesn’t speak English.
Three people were killed in the Florida incident. The driver, Harjinder Singh, was charged with three counts of vehicular homicide. Police said that Singh allegedly attempted to make an illegal U-turn through an “Official Use Only” access point, blocking traffic, the cause of the fatal crash.
Singh also entered the United States illegally, according to Florida and U.S. officials.
English-proficiency standards for truckers were already longstanding in U.S. law.
Trump’s April executive order reversed 2016 regulations instructing inspectors not to remove commercial drivers from service on U.S. roads if their only violation was lack of English proficiency.
The department also said that Singh failed an English language proficiency assessment.
A lawyer for Singh could not immediately be identified.
Florida officials have extradited Singh from California to face charges in the state.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration stated in 2023 that 16 percent of truck drivers in the United States were estimated to be born outside the country.
