The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is shutting down hundreds of commercial driver training schools as part of a federal effort to address alleged fraud in the trucking industry. The FMCSA is removing 110 schools identified as the "greatest offenders" from the federal training registry, requiring them to cease operations immediately. An additional 160 schools are being closed for not meeting federal standards, such as providing adequate space for driving tests and employing licensed instructors.
This action is part of a broader initiative to reform the commercial trucking sector, which has been linked to President Donald Trump's immigration enforcement policies. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin stated at a news conference in Detroit, "These individuals are dangerous, and because of the failure from the previous administration, from the Biden administration, they’ve killed hundreds of people, and unfortunately, injured thousands."
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy noted that the 110 schools had collectively certified approximately 5,000 drivers who later violated federal English-language requirements. Each school had certified at least 10 drivers who were cited for English proficiency violations during roadside inspections, according to Derek Barrs, head of the FMCSA. Duffy emphasized, "You have to speak English to operate a commercial vehicle. I didn’t create that rule. President Trump didn’t create that rule. That rule has been in place for decades."
Concerns about training have been heightened by several fatal accidents involving commercial vehicles driven by undocumented immigrants or non-English speakers, including a crash in Florida last year that resulted in three fatalities. Duffy attributed the issues to the Biden administration's lack of oversight, stating, "The last administration allowed truck driving schools to self-certify to say that they meet all of the federal standards to be a certified truck driving school. What we found is many of those schools don’t actually meet that standard."
Duffy indicated that many improperly issued licenses were granted to immigrants in the country illegally, although the enforcement actions also target schools for various training and certification violations. The scrutiny of trucking schools has intensified over recent months; in February, the Transportation Department announced that over 550 schools had received notices of proposed removal from the federal registry due to issues such as unqualified instructors and inadequate training. In December, nearly 3,000 training providers were removed from the registry for failing to comply with federal requirements, part of what Duffy described as a crackdown on "every link in the illegal trucking chain."
Duffy reassured that the crackdown would not affect the demand for qualified drivers, stating, "We’re not gonna have a problem. We’re gonna have truck drivers."