Originally published at: States: CDL restrictions to cripple supply lines, raise costs - FreightWaves
The Trump administration’s crackdown on non-domiciled CDLs was carried out with no evidence that it will improve safety, according to states.
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I drove for 38 years. I have 3million + safe driving miles. I just recently turned my CDL in. Here’s a couple of reasons why:
1. I saw more than my share of accidents. Typically they were because someone cut the semi off,but the driver of the commercial vehicle gets the blame. (Simply because they had a CDL)
2. The caliber of drivers coming into the industry, do not have the work ethic that there was in the past. Courtesy is a thing of the past. It’s now only for yourself…to survive.
3. I watched several foreign trucks come into a truck stop. 4 drivers per truck of foreign decent and refusing to speak English. There are two problems here. First in an emergency situation, if you can’t communicate with emergency responders,vital information is delayed. Second, how can you think that people are going to treat you as an equal, if you can’t read a children’s book. Which in turn makes one believe that they can’t read simple road signs,thereby causing a major safety issue with the rest if the motoring public.
Just my thoughts, and i don’t look for anyone to agree or disagree. Its my personal observations.
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Not true biden put this together to destroy America. Not going to happen deport. Them all
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I can’t blame the Driver who turned in his CDL. For the whole Trucking Industry intentionally hired on all of these Flip Flop Sandals wearing Drivers. With poor regards to Safety of the General Public and True CDL Drivers like Myself . Who followed the Golden Rule. I understand the Drivers from Panama DMZ, Puerto Rico, Guam, Guantanimo, Cuba., Who speaks who speaks Spanish that are US Citizens. Who are like the Cubans Drivers, who goes out of their ways to learn English, in order to read the Highway Signs, Roads and Safety By-laws of the Land! The Dacca Drivers went to Our Schools Tax Dollars, Free Education and did nothing to become Permanent US Citizenship got a serious mental problems like some of their Parents? Have been taking away our Jobs, Incomes and Safety for far to long and turning our Highways into ■■■■■■■ Fields!
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May see a small hiccup sure… Sadly any raise in costs won’t be seen by us the carriers only the brokers, until we start to put our feet down.
Rates should be up every year by a minimum of 5% yet here they are below 2018 rates …
They have been below 1990’s rates. The so called trucking industry is just upset they can’t get below market VALUEABLE rates and get cheap freight below what it costs to function as a business.
Freightwaves is showing huge bias. Wondering who is paying Freightwaves to propandize this horse manure take on the issue.
For starters unless you live here and are a citizen, you shouldn’t even be able to get a CDL. These people are destroying our country. The people who are citizens are losing their jobs, so corporations can get cheap labor regardless of the tactics used.
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There is absolutely evidence a lot of evidence that Non Domiciled drivers are destroying the industry.
Freightwaves is outright lying about this issue. I have had to park alot of Non Domiciled drivers trucks for them in parking spots at truck stops and shipper loading docks for them just so they don’t hit someone elses truck.
I have seen them throw pooey out in bags etc right on the ground at shippers, truck stops, rest areas ,store parking lots etc.
They have no respect for other drivers, common courtesy, or common sense. They come here and destroy our rates running for rates you can’t fix your equipment with. And you can see it in the condition of their equipment.
There are some good ones, but even then they destroy our rates making it difficult to survive. Look at all the trucking companies filing chapter 11. And not fly by nite companies either. Large, medium, and small fleets.
I don’t hate them, but they should go to their own countries and drive there. If corporations aren’t using USAID, the CIA, NGO’s, and the state department to screw other countries. And have all the refugees come here cheapening our labor. They are putting their factories in other countries to exploit cheap labor, avoid taxes, and environmental regulations we have to put up with and can’t avoid.
They are hosing us from both angles. They don’t care about the environment. They use environmental regulations to gain advantage and use this unjustified unconstitutional carbon credit hooey to rip off the people.
They don’t care about the foriegners either. They are taking advantage of them too. Do I feel for the foreigners, absolutely. But they are inadvertently destroying our industry.
It’s bad enough that there are citizen CDL holders that don’t realize their value and run for nothing, we don’t need foreigners coming here and making it worse.
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I wish regular drivers would learn how to drive around semi trucks, I really do. They should be teaching and testing everyone who gets a driver’s license and when they renew their driver’s license all about Trucks. The limitations, the blind spots, the stopping distance, etc but they don’t and won’t. Also just to have some respect for the fact that they’re working but that’s another topic.
I’m not a trucker I’m just a regular driver who got hit by a semi truck about 2 months ago and I couldn’t even communicate with the driver or the passenger. It wasn’t that bad of an accident. My car got pretty messed up but I picked up the pieces of my car that I needed and that was still useful and I was ultimately able to drive away. The truck had a little dent on one rim. That was it. The two men that got out of the truck pretty much acted like I didn’t exist. I’m a female by the way. I’m assuming maybe that’s the reason, I don’t know. But they called 911 and couldn’t even speak to the operator. The driver handed me his cell phone and I didn’t even know why. He couldn’t tell me because he couldn’t speak English. When I spoke with the 911 operator, he said he couldn’t understand a word that the driver was trying to say. Also the two men refused to exchange information with me. Well let me correct that. They didn’t refuse to “exchange” information with me, they had already taken a picture of my insurance information. They refused to provide their information to me. Before I would provide my driver’s license, I told them they needed to provide theirs as well. I have no idea what they understood, they just kept saying no. I couldn’t even explain to them that it’s the law.
So after waiting like an hour for CHP to come out or whoever, since they had already called 911, the operator said they were going to go ahead and send someone out, I called the sheriff’s department and asked if I could just leave and he said yes (I had a concert to get to lol). So I got the license plate numbers. They didn’t have a DOT number on the side of their truck. The registration was not current. I don’t know if they even had CDLs. They were on a back road rather than the freeway which runs along side the back road. I wonder why. So after arguing with them while on the phone with the sheriff’s dispatcher, repeating what he told me to tell them about exchanging information and them still refusing, I left . One because of the concert and two because I didn’t feel safe at all. I still can’t find out who owns the truck, who was driving, and who their insurance company is, if he was even insured. The whole incident was total ■■■■■■■■. I’ve never experienced anything like that before.
There is definitely a safety issue going on with these non domiciled CDLs holders. The guy who wrote the article, John Gallagher, is a total joke. He couldn’t have have written it with a more obvious and ridiculous ■■■■■. It’s absolutely absurd. It was laughable. Especially having just been in an accident with a dude who had no idea what he’s doing driving that big rig. I mean John said so many stupid things in the article, it was almost unreadable.
Anyway it’s a real problem. They’re not taught ■■■■. it’s not just that they can’t speak English or read road signs. it’s more than that.
I’m sure John drives and sometimes shares the road with non domicile CDL holders. Does he want to be in an accident or have a family member of his be an accident and potentially be seriously injured or dead? Or would he rather shipping be slowed down some?
I don’t even think they should have a regular driver’s licenses let alone commercial driver’s licenses. Those two guys were scary. I could feel how much lesser than them they felt I was. It was exuding out of them. Like they would rather have Stoned me to death than acknowledge me as a human. It was disgusting. That’s my rant. Good day to you all, Lisa
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You echo the words of my boss. He’s been driving accident free since 1997 and he says everything you’ve said here and then some.
I’ve driven with him and I’ve seen things with my own eyes that I can’t believe. Foreign drivers with their bare feet up on the dashboard while driving, watching sports on a tablet while driving and more ridiculous, unsafe behavior. And the DOT won’t stop them because they are afraid to even try to inspect their vehicle because of their lack of English proficiency. Fear of getting run over I assume.
Since then I’ve become involved in the business and I shudder when i hear BS like the great freight recession and the lack of drivers. The only ones I hear bemoaning this is Brokers - which we do not use. Another group of foreigners who take advantage of smaller and independent truckers by offering low rate loads and never paying only to go bankrupt and open under a different name. And that’s only the beginning of my complaints.
I hope you enjoy your retirement. And congratulations on the safe driving record all those years. That’s a feat in and of itself. Safe travels my friend.
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So what we should keep all those foreign drivers who can’t read a simple road sign or have no common courtesy out on the roads just to save a few bucks Gtfoh and take em with you
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Per the norm, Freight Waves is predicting gloom and doom because of these, or any changes, that do not align with their base. Mainly the ATA and others. The FMCSA and Secretary Duffy, along with the sitting President have the ultimate authority over the CDL program. It is a Federal program, administered by the states. No vise versa as you allege. These companies have used these foreign low wage earners to their own advantage for years. It has decimated this industry. Wages down, freight rates down, price of equipment up, insurance through the roof, saftey down, oversight down. Tell me where the advantage was to the American Drivers? It is an adjustment that was long over due. We should not have to compete with foreign low wage earners, who have sub standard equipment, sub standard saftey scores and have driven rates to the bottom feeders. What I would like to see is these 200,000 retrained for freight analytics, or logistics, on the non cdl side. Maybe even some honest non biased reporters. I am sure you have room for those 200,000 foreign low wage earners, you keep pushing on our side. Thank you Secretary Duffy, for finally putting American Drivers first, not behind all these entitled foreigners who think they have a right to stay here because they were allowed temporarily to be here. A work visa is a privilege, granted by the US, not a right. Constitutional rights are for citizens. Not foreigners. CDLs are the same.
Thank you for reading and your time.
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I laughed when I saw “there’s no proof this will help the accident rate”. How can you gage something that just got implemented? We do know the idiots can’t read or write. Flip flop, sandal-wearing is correct. They are probably the ones peeing in the empty plastic pop bottles and leaving them on the road and highway entrance ramps where they have parked to sleep. I have to deal with them delivering and taking customer product.
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Good morning I appreciate your compliment for the last 8 years I have been driving a truck when I first started driving I didn’t see this many truck drivers out here not nearly half as many now I look and there’s like almost literally no place to park truck drivers that are running 90 some miles an hour down the freeway and speed limit zones that are 55 to 70 our drivers that are causing accidents the main accident that was in the Florida turnpike that killed three innocent people should have never even been here. Of the eight years I have been driving I have never hit anybody I have been sight swipe by somebody that was on their phone and the girl actually made sure she took notes to talk to the officer because she knew she was in a wrong I see these people that are out here that are tearing up the highways and being rude foreigners as we speak they don’t speak English refusing to speak English running at night time. I think John Duffy did a ■■■■ good job getting everybody out of here or getting it at least stirred up to where this was going to be the biggest start of a turn however now people are wanting to wait six to 18 months they’ve been here six to 18 months too ■■■■ long because our rates are down I used to bring home a paycheck now I’m lucky that I actually work for a guy that pays decent but out of every company it’s trash the safety among people should be held Paramount high. Now I have also posted on one of these farms before and it was not answered and there was no notification that it was even answered and it was basically letting everybody know that whoever is in office needs to do their job and then Force the rules of the road besides that the OT I don’t do much on politics but I do know that truck driving is American man’s dream and American man’s job not for someone over to come over here because they are handed oh well the opportunity of a lifetime without having to work for it. No I’m not sure what you may say about my response but I was just trying to get a comment posted to at least have something heard amongst this truck drivers that feel like these people that are here that should not be here that Lisa’s have expired and they are undercutting the federal regulations to do anything and their power to stay here jump the borders do whatever they have to do to illegally remain in this country and just go into a DMV and giving a driver’s license spot free without earning it I can’t begin to tell you how disgrace with that I am. Oh but I’m not done just yet it is not only the commercial driver’s license carriers that is also a problem but it’s also four wheelers that are a problem because I sit there and I’ll tell you I was getting off of an exit the other day when I was trying to go down to Darien Wisconsin cuz I know I just picked up the load and all this I was already in route to where I was going and this guy over privileged or entitled decides to nose up as far as he can up the road in the left lane and swings right in front of me cuts me off and gets down the exit right before I can and I was already on the exit ramp on my way down I said so what are you going to do when the next semi is not so gracious and you try to cut them off so that’s another problem that needs to be addressed
I’d like to see the proof of how taking non-dom CDL’s out of the game would hurt the industry. Currently we are running an average rate-per-mile that is below the cost of operating a truck (maybe I should say the cost of operating a SAFE truck). Removing the Non-Dom CDL holders would certainly tighten up the market. According to Overdrive Magazine, a coordinated enforcement sweep in Wyoming resulted in the arrest of 40 drivers labeled as ‘criminal aliens,’ many identified during traffic-stop and roadside-inspection checks along I-80 and I-25. This was over an inspection period from November 18 to the 20th (3 days). I don’t know about you all but that seems to be a pretty substantial number.
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As a CDL driver who is now retired from trucking but still driving. My input is that as soon as you get rid of all the non compliant drivers, illegals, and anybody else who has not been properly trained to drive a commercial vehicle or does not speak our native language, English; the void will be filled that those driver’s left by American properly trained driver’s that speak our native language English. The ATA’s claims have already been disproven that there is not enough CDL driver’s, especially with this latest slowdown in freight of all types due to tariffs and security.
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Rebuttal to the States: Enforcement Is Not the Problem — States’ Systems Are
The coalition of states suing FMCSA over the non-domiciled CDL Interim Final Rule portrays itself as defending economic stability and immigrant workers. In reality, these states are deflecting responsibility for their own licensing failures while ignoring the very real vulnerabilities in America’s freight system. Their arguments suffer from three fundamental flaws: they misstate FMCSA’s authority, ignore systemic compliance gaps, and underestimate the national security and public-safety risks of a deregulated CDL environment.
1. FMCSA Has Both the Authority and the Obligation to Act
States argue FMCSA lacks statutory authority to impose restrictions tied to immigration status. That is incorrect. FMCSA’s responsibility is to ensure only qualified, legally authorized individuals operate commercial motor vehicles. Licensing someone whose DHS status cannot be validated — or whose work authorization has lapsed — is by definition a failure of qualification.
The states admit their systems issue CDLs based on DHS SAVE data. That is exactly the point: SAVE data is outdated, inconsistent, and unreliable. FMCSA is right to intervene when the federal system used to validate CDL eligibility is itself compromised.
To say FMCSA cannot address this gap is to say FMCSA must knowingly allow improperly documented drivers onto U.S. highways. No regulator can accept that outcome.
2. States Created This Problem by Letting “CDL Mills” Proliferate
The same states suing FMCSA presided over an industry in which:
- 44% of trucking schools fail federal training standards
- Thousands falsify records or self-certify without oversight
- Schools teach “weekend CDLs” that produce minimally qualified drivers
For decades, these states ignored the erosion of training quality. Now, when FMCSA attempts to enforce the 2022 ELDT standards, they claim the sky is falling.
No serious safety culture allows nearly half its schools to fail compliance. FMCSA’s intervention isn’t overreach — it’s long overdue.
3. The States’ Economic Arguments Ignore Reality
States claim restricting non-domiciled CDLs will cripple supply chains. But several facts undermine this:
- Freight volumes are down 10% since 2022
- The market remains massively over-capacitated
- Motor carriers cannot fill trucks not because of supply shortage, but because rates are too depressed to sustain qualified drivers
The real strain is not FMCSA enforcement — it is deregulation, over-supply, suppressed wages, and the race-to-the-bottom economics that push carriers to hire the cheapest labor available, regardless of qualifications.
If states were sincerely worried about economic stability, they would support efforts to ensure all drivers meet the same safety and training standards — not ■■■■■ them.
4. The Safety Argument Cuts Against the States’ Position
States allege FMCSA has not proven immigration status is linked to crashes. But FMCSA’s concern is not citizenship — it is verification.
States have issued licenses that:
- Remain valid long after work authorizations expire
- Were based on incomplete or incorrect federal data
- Used “No Name Given” or single-name formats that defeat accountability
- Allowed individuals flagged by DHS to obtain CDLs due to system lag
These are not minor procedural issues. They are systemic failures that undermine traceability, enforcement, and national security.
States asserting “no evidence of danger” are ignoring the most dangerous fact: they do not know what they do not know.
5. National Security Cannot Be an Afterthought
Recent cases — including the Uzbekistani driver DHS itself cleared — illustrate the vulnerability in the system. States claim FMCSA’s rules are overbroad. The problem is the reverse: the current system is too porous, relying on outdated DHS databases and inconsistent state-level verification practices.
Ignoring these weaknesses does not make the system safer — it makes it quietly more fragile.
6. Conclusion
The states’ lawsuit reflects the same posture that brought trucking to its current state: deflection instead of enforcement, politics instead of accountability.
FMCSA’s rule is not perfect. But it is a necessary corrective to a licensing environment weakened by:
- Decades of deregulation
- Over-capacity that suppresses wages and encourages corner-cutting
- Fraudulent carriers and chameleon operations exploiting loopholes
- Training programs that never should have been certified
- Inconsistent state practices and unreliable federal databases
Reform is disruptive — but the alternative is a system that remains unsafe, unverified, and structurally incapable of protecting the American public.
If states want to defend immigration policy, they should direct that argument to DHS.
If they want to defend drivers, they should raise training standards.
If they want to defend safety, they should support FMCSA’s efforts — not obstruct them.
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Anyone else notice the states complaining about this raising costs are the same states (Cali, Mass.,etc.) that are busy pushing minimum wages of $15-20/hr? So when they do something that raises costs it’s good, but FMCSA taking actions that MAY raise costs it’s bad…
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I have2 million miles and I been driving for 16 years . Yes there are many ■■■ holes car drivers that like to play with the truckers and some times they pay the price for doing so .. but let’s not pretend that truckers don’t drive like ■■■ holes they do ..many times they are thinking they are in a big truck they own the road tailgating driving in the third lane speeding . I am from the east coast and I run the west coast every week and I have seen my fair share of accidents many times it’s just truckers ■■■■■■■ them selfs driving off the road hitting bridges . Many of these truckers are foreigners they mostly drive Volvos so you have a good idea it’s one of them .. can’t speak English can’t read English . You go in the truck stops they are pigs in the men’s room.. how can you drive down the road and not know how to read the signs . Trump is doing the right thing get them all off the roads they are destroying the industry .. under Biden Dot was not doing there jobs US truckers had the run of the highways but not any more ..plus these foreigners are doing loads cheaper and the brokers love that .. the best thing for the trucking industry is to get rid of the brokers…thank you Trump
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Learned to drive 30 years ago. Actively driving 25 consecutive. Ive had my truck damaged by other drivers 3 times. Minor stuff. By 3 different groups. Black, White and Middleasterner. I have closer, more dangerous situations Ive avoided, predominately by non-minorities or immigrants. I gave up my cb radio, my 5th year. I grew tired of the racism. Yeah, I couldve turned it off. But i decided I didnt want reason it was off, being ■■■■■■ Caucasians all day, everyday. I say ■■■■■■ Caucasians, because Mexicans, Hispanics etc., were just as foul. And they are or can be, of the Caucasian group. Either way. Tired of their ■■■■■■■■■■ behavior. I dont like truck drivers. I dont run in packs. I dont talk to drivers. Not even fellow ■■■■■■ like myself. Because along with the racism; and linguistically and skill challenged immigrants. Trucks have been sold to so many youthful ■■■■■■ who maintain their hood behavior, I dont have anyone out here I choose to be around. Just entirely too much stupidity. White guys talking all this safety trash. While White truckers are the reason we have CDLs, drug/alcohol testing and logbooks. They were the primary drivers in the 80s and acted uncivilized. Ridiculous deaths and accident numbers. So while agree. The immigrants arent very good drivers, from my observation. Neither are hood drivers. And White truckers leave a lot to be desired. They all refuse to be “professionals”. No more signals to change lanes, exit or merge. No more space before changing lanes. No more merging with care. As opposed to merging with expectation trucks and cars will move. No more parking orderly. Its like watching trucking become the profession for more ■■■■■■. More immature and unskilled drivers. But I saw this coming decades ago. It was obvious drivers of cars were getting worse. So obviously some of them would become truckers and bring their asinine behavior to big rigs.
I am so tired of hearing these companies complain and freight waves post this ■■■■ about its gonna cripple supply lines, NO it will not, just like the ATA pushing the ■■■■ driver shortage ■■■■…
Since 04 i have been out here and im still out here, and i will echo the same things the other driver that handed his cdl on all his topics but i would like to add my own experience.
I have seen the 4 drivers to a truck, i have seen the TP hanging out from underneath the cab of these trucks i have even had ■■■■ sprayed up on my windshield at highway speeds, the foreigners come here and dont speak English and dont even care to learn.
The BROKERS love and i mean love these ppl, they will take loads off the board and run them so cheap it will make ur head spin im talking subpar .60cpm, so yea the brokers are to blame also…
And on to the MEGA carriers. Screw you and the horse you rode in on also, u are the main reason we have been labor dumped! ALL of you ATA crackheads are the ones who pushed for years about driver shortage all the money you dumped into the ATA you could have used it to pay the drivers better so they wouldnt leave but nooooo u used it to lobby Washington to allow these foreigners to drive a truck for you at the bare minimum rate per mile so yeah.
My point is this, pay the driver, treat them with respect not a number, keep up with ur maintenance and all will be well. We have plenty of AMERICAN cdl drivers looking for a place to call home and make money for your company but if the reviews on ur company ■■■■ then the driver will find someone else to haul for.