The administration of US President Donald Trump has cancelled the commercial driver’s licences of more than 28,000 undocumented immigrants, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed on Tuesday.The administration is also launching a programme to replace the affected migrant truck drivers with US military veterans. At the end of last month, Trump announced the “Freedom Haul” initiative, aimed at replacing undocumented migrant truck drivers with US military veterans.In a recent press release, the US administration said it had coordinated with state authorities to revoke the commercial driver’s licences (CDLs) of 24,000 non-citizens who, it said, did not meet English-language proficiency requirements. It also said officials had worked with states to cancel 28,000 commercial licences that it described as having been “illegally issued” and to shut down 9,500 driving schools that the administration alleged had helped unqualified drivers obtain licences and operate commercial vehicles on US roads.The US Department of Transportation began enforcing existing English-language proficiency requirements for commercial truck drivers last summer. aThe issue drew renewed attention following a fatal crash in Florida in August, when a truck driver allegedly made an illegal U-turn, killing three people. US transportation secretary Sean Duffy said the Indian-origin driver involved in the crash should not have been issued a commercial driver’s licence.“We are removing more and more dangerous foreign drivers off our roads every day and restoring the integrity of America’s trucking industry,” Duffy said. “Our new Freedom Haulers campaign will help build on these successes and get the word out that there’s never been a better time for America’s former service members to get behind the wheel of a big rig.”The Trump administration said audits carried out across all US states found numerous commercial driver’s licences held by non-domiciled immigrants that remained valid after their work permits had expired or had been issued without proper verification of immigration or citizenship status.According to the US department of transportation, about 26,000 commercial drivers have since been removed from service for failing to meet English-language proficiency requirements, while nearly 30,000 commercial driver’s licences were revoked after authorities determined they had been issued improperly.The federal government has also sought to withhold millions of dollars in highway funding from California and New York, accusing the states of failing to revoke additional licences. The funding dispute is now before the courts. Several other states, including Pennsylvania, Minnesota and North Carolina, have also been warned they could lose federal highway funding if they fail to comply with the administration’s directives.Under the new rules, commercial driver’s licences will be available only to immigrants holding valid H-2A, H-2B or E-2 visas. The H-2A visa is issued to temporary agricultural workers, the H-2B visa to temporary non-agricultural workers, while the E-2 visa is granted to foreign nationals who make substantial investments in a US business.According to administration figures, immigrants make up roughly 20 per cent of the US trucking workforce. However, non-domiciled commercial driver’s licences issued to immigrants account for about 5 per cent of all commercial licences, representing approximately 200,000 drivers.
