Washington, D.C. – Four days after Oklahoma Governor, Kevin Stitt, announced the arrest of 130 illegal immigrant commercial truck drivers, U.S. Representative Beth Van Duyne (R-TX-24) introduced the Protecting America’s Roads Act to enact into law new DOT rules changes and stricter requirements for obtaining or maintaining a CDL for foreign nationals. Following in the wake of deadly highway accidents across the United States involving illegal immigrants or foreign nationals, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy has called the crisis of ineligible and incapable foreign truckers a national emergency requiring immediate changes to protect our roadways and the American people. Rep. Van Duyne’s common sense legislation mandates that states will come into compliance with stricter licensing and monitoring standards or they will suffer severe penalties.

“It is time to end the danger posed by illegal immigrant and foreign national truck drivers who are not capable of safely operating an 18-wheel commercial vehicle or, in many cases, understanding English language warning signs and road instructions,” said Rep. Van Duyne. “People in Texas, Florida, and many other states have lost their lives because we have third-world truck drivers menacing our roadways and creating deadly situations on American highways – this must end! To any state bothered by these new rules and proposed legislation, do our country a favor and stop endangering the lives of Americans with your reckless actions or suffer the consequences of having federal highway funds removed.” 

In March of this year, five people were killed and eleven injured in a massive pile up caused by an Ethiopian foreign national who failed to stop his truck and plowed into traffic on I-35, just north of Austin, Texas. At the time of his arrest, it was noted the driver spoke limited English and had numerous prior hours of operation violations as well as hazardous moving violations while operating commercial vehicles. Texas is the top state in the U.S. for trucking by freight volume, making the state more vulnerable to hazardous and life threatening dangers from incapable or ineligible truck drivers.

Summary: 
DOT has identified gaps in CDL issuance for foreign nationals. This bill codifies stricter safeguards to ensure only those lawfully present and domiciled in the U.S. operate commercial vehicles. The Protecting America’s Roads Act requires CDL applicants to prove lawful status and domicile, mandates DHS SAVE verification for all non-citizen applicants, and limits non-citizen CDLs to the shorter of Form I-94 expiration or one year. It also requires in-person renewals and transfers, directs states to revoke licenses when eligibility lapses, and establishes penalties for states that don’t comply. Additionally, it ends recognition of foreign CDLs unless authorized by statute and authorizes 287(g) agencies to report unlawful CDL operators. Effective 6 months after enactment.

Click HERE for bill text.

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