President Trump on Thursday launched the Freedom Hauler initiative for recruiting military veterans to become commercial truck drivers, a follow-up move to the administration’s crackdown on illegal immigrant and non-English-speaking truckers.
The president said America’s roads and highways have been “terrorized by unqualified illegal aliens, dangerously driving big rigs.”
“They’re driving big rigs, semi trucks, and tractor trailers all because radical left maniacs at the state level have issued them commercial driver’s licenses, even though they’re not entitled to have them. They don’t speak the language for the most part. Many of these illegal aliens don’t even come close,” Mr. Trump said. “They cannot read basic road signs. In many cases, they’ve engaged in reckless driving that has caused many, many preventable deaths. Many, too many to even talk about.”
He recalled a catastrophic accident last August involving an illegal immigrant truck driver in Florida who made a U-turn on a highway and killed three people.
Mr. Trump, along with Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins and acting Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling, were also joined by a big rig on West Executive Avenue to announce the program.
Thirty-four states have joined the initiative, including Indiana, Wyoming, Louisiana, Arkansas, Alabama, Florida and Maryland.
Led by the Department of Transportation, the Freedom Haulers campaign includes contributions from the departments of Veterans Affairs, Defense and Labor.
The recruitment campaign will take many forms, including a new viral digital ad, radio ads, and a new microsite cataloging all the federal resources and private sector partners that can help service members secure good-paying trucking jobs.
As part of the new initiative, the Department of Transportation has expanded eligibility for veterans to get expedited commercial driver’s licenses or CDLs, extending the waiver period from 12 months to 24 months following their active-duty service in the military.
Veterans without heavy commercial vehicle driving training from their military background will be offered CDL training.
Omaha-based trucking company Werner Enterprises, which was at the event Thursday, also announced plans to hire 1,400 new veteran drivers.
The White House stressed its continuing efforts to curb commercial drivers who do not meet English-language proficiency standards or are inadequately licensed.
All 50 states must administer the CDL test in English, and interpreters are not allowed, but few states have changed the written test to English only.
“The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will look at every angle of this driver’s training and licensing, and we will hold any state, training school or company accountable that puts a dangerous driver behind the wheel,” a Transportation Department spokesperson said.
Earlier this year, Mr. Duffy said the federal government would begin requiring all CDL holders to speak English.
Other states also allow CDL applicants to take the written test in multiple languages.
California offers the CDL written “knowledge” test in English, Arabic, Chinese, Punjabi, Russian and Spanish.
The federal government threatened last year to hold back $40 million in federal funding from California for failing to enforce English proficiency standards for CDL holders at traffic stops. The state later agreed to enforce the standards at traffic stops.
The Department of Transportation has yanked over 24,000 commercial driver’s licenses under the more stringent English-language proficiency rules and voided over 28,000 CDLs improperly issued to noncitizen truck drivers.
Supporters of migrant and non-English-speaking truckers, including California Democratic Party officials, say they will fight the Trump administration’s illegal immigration purge, including new language-proficiency requirements for truckers.
“I would definitely push back on the Trump administration,” said former state Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who is running to be the state’s next governor.
He called the language-proficiency requirement for truckers and its roadside enforcement by the California Highway Patrol “a reckless policy.”
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