Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy ordered the immediate shutdown of 270 commercial driver’s licensing schools across America on Monday, citing widespread violations including training illegal immigrants who cannot speak English and operating facilities that fail to meet federal safety standards.
Schools Graduated Drivers Unable to Speak English
Federal officials removed 110 CDL schools from the Training Provider Registry for training 5,000 students later found unable to speak English. The language requirement for commercial vehicle operators has been federal law for decades, yet these schools continued graduating drivers who could not communicate with law enforcement or other motorists during roadside inspections.
An additional 160 schools faced suspension for failing to maintain adequate training facilities. Investigators discovered some schools claimed a single truck or small parking lot constituted their entire training center, despite certifying they met federal standards to train commercial drivers.
Fatal Crashes Linked to Non-English Speaking Drivers
Duffy revealed that 239 people died in crashes caused by non-English speaking truck drivers since January 2025, with California issuing the majority of licenses involved in these fatal accidents. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administrator Derek Barrs identified specific cases, including Platinum Plus Truck Driving School in California, which certified 36 drivers later cited for English language violations. One graduate killed someone in Oklahoma.
ASC Technical Institute in Texas certified 58 drivers who violated English proficiency requirements. One of these trainees ran a stop sign and killed a local man in Texas. Every school facing closure had passed at least 10 drivers who were subsequently cited for lacking English language proficiency during law enforcement stops.
Self-Certification System Exploited
The Transportation Secretary explained that the previous administration allowed trucking schools to self-certify compliance with federal standards. This system enabled widespread fraud as schools falsely claimed to meet requirements while operating substandard facilities and graduating unqualified drivers. Among those affected by inadequate driver training was five-year-old Delilah Coleman, who suffered a brain injury in 2024 when an illegal immigrant caused a pileup with his 18-wheeler in California.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who received his own CDL at age 21, contrasted current violations with the strict training he underwent. States issue commercial driver’s licenses valid across state lines, but the federal government sets national standards and oversees approximately 31,000 CDL training schools nationwide. The crackdown represents the Trump administration’s enforcement of existing regulations that require English language proficiency and proper training facilities for all commercial drivers operating on American roads.
Being that I drive a semi myself as an owner-operator, it is not just illegal alien truck drivers causing some of the problems on the highways, it is also new non-alien truck drivers that have very little experience at driving a vehicle that can weigh up to 80,000 pounds. Just like last week on I-25 just north of Socorro, New Mexico, I saw a semi doing a U-turn where it was signed “No U-turns”. The dude blocked the two northbound lanes including the shoulder to make the U-ey. As he did, then pulled into the southbound lanes of I-25 with vehicles coming at him and they almost had to come to complete stop. All the fool had to do was to drive two more miles north where there was an exit and cross over I-25. I looked at him and the driver looked to be in his early 20’s. I guess the dude did not hear about the incident where a semi’s U-turn caused a lot of deaths on the highway a while back. Sometimes I think the common sense facture is gone as to what I have seen over the decades and years.