Kamal Ghorui
After series of accidents involving migrant, non-English speaking drivers, the Trump administration is rolling out new regulations to keep unqualified foreigners from driving commercial vehicles. New rules will drastically reduce the number of eligible people and will also close the loopholes that now exist between the federal rules and the state rules. Harjinder Singh, Jashanpreet Singh, Rajinder Kumar and Kamalpreet Singh — all Indian-origin truck drivers — have been accused of causing fatal crashes on American highways in the past few months. All of them obtained a non-domiciled CDL in California.“For far too long, America has allowed dangerous foreign drivers to abuse our truck licensing systems – wreaking havoc on our roadways,” transportation secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement to Daily Caller. “Moving forward, unqualified foreign drivers will be unable to get a license to operate an 80,000-pound big rig.”
“Under President Trump’s leadership, we are putting the safety of the driving public first,” Duffy continued. “From enforcing English language standards to holding fraudulent carriers accountable, we will continue to attack this crisis on our roads head on.”
What are the new rules for truckers?
H-2A, H-2B and E-2 nonimmigrant status holders who have undergone federal screening will be eligible for CDL. H-2A visa holders are temporary agricultural workers. H-2B visa holders are termporary non-agriculrural workers. E2 are treaty investors. The new rule also prohibits the acceptance of EADs as proof of eligibility and requires state officials to query the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements system to confirm every foreign applicant’s lawful immigration status.The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said about 17 fatal crashes that occurred in 2025 “that were caused by actions of non-domiciled CDL holders whose fitness could not be ensured and thus would be ineligible under this new rule.” The agency also accused more than 30 states of improperly issuing non-domiciled CDLs.
Who can get a CDL under the existing rule?
Non-citizens with any valid work authorization, including Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) such as those held by DACA recipients, asylum seekers, refugees, TPS holders, and others, could apply for a non-domiciled CDL/CLP, as long as they had valid work authorization and immigration documentation.
