The Trump administration has begun deploying Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to truck safety and weight inspection stations across the country. The move comes as federal officials aim to address a series of fatal crashes involving commercial truck drivers who were improperly licensed or lacked the legal permission to work in the United States.
Federal authorities report that states have already revoked more than 28,000 commercial driver’s licenses held by individuals lacking legal work authorization. ICE officers are now working alongside state inspectors to verify the residency or work status of truckers, as well as their compliance with long-standing regulations regarding English language proficiency.
This initiative follows several high-profile fatal incidents. On July 1, Pennsylvania state trooper Michael Pahira was killed in a collision involving a truck driven by a Haitian national who federal officials state was working illegally. The suspect, Michael Bon, had entered the U.S. in 2024 and was awaiting a decision on his Temporary Protected Status as a refugee, yet had successfully obtained a commercial driver’s license in Massachusetts. Bon is currently facing charges of vehicular homicide and involuntary manslaughter. Pahira’s funeral took place on July 8.
In other recent incidents, a University of Massachusetts student was killed on July 5 in Ohio when a trucker struck his vehicle; officials noted that the driver could neither read nor speak English, requiring troopers to use translation tools to communicate. Additionally, a California-licensed trucker, Harjinder Singh, was accused of causing a fatal crash in Florida last August after failing a roadside English proficiency test. Federal officials have characterized such individuals as “non-domiciled” truckers who obtained licenses despite lacking work authorization.
“This administration is determined to rid our trucking industry of unvetted and unqualified foreign drivers who fail to abide by the rules of our roads,” said Danna Almeida, a spokeswoman for the federal Department of Transportation. She added that the government intends to use every available tool to ensure the safety of American families and the trucking industry. The Trump administration also highlighted the issue during the Feb. 24 State of the Union address, featuring Dalilah Coleman, a young victim of a crash involving an improperly licensed driver.
Border czar Tom Homan noted on July 7 that federal authorities are actively looking for such drivers and working directly at weigh stations with state troopers. Homan criticized Democrat-led states for withholding driver licensing data, which complicates enforcement efforts. While the Obama administration had suspended the English proficiency rule in 2016, the Trump administration reinstated the requirement last summer.
Critics, including various migrant rights groups, have expressed concern that the crackdown could lead to racial profiling and potentially drive up consumer costs if thousands of drivers are removed from the road. Due to operational security, the Department of Homeland Security has declined to specify how many ICE agents are involved or identify the exact locations of these collaborative inspections.
"There's just a lot of these people to find, but we're out there every day looking for them," Homan said July 7 on Fox News. "We've got a lot of people we're looking for. In some states, we're actually working weigh stations with the troopers, trying to get these people as they're coming through."
