The entire issue of the issuance of commercial driver's licenses - CDLs - to illegal immigrants, is coming to a boil. There have been several high-profile incidents, some serious crashes, caused by illegal aliens bearing CDLs they should never have had; these same illegals being unable to speak English or read road signs. This is well to the left of insanity, and California is insistent on defying the United States Department of Transportation rules on English language requirements for commercial licensees.
On CNBC's "Squawk Box," Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy had some sharp words on the topic.
Every state except CALIFORNIA has complied with @USDOT rules that you MUST speak English to have a trucking license.
— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) October 20, 2025
We hope they get ON BOARD now that we are withholding $40 MILLION from the state. This is not about politics, it’s about safety! pic.twitter.com/EIaDRmEX8V
The Secretary said in part:
So, this has been a long-standing rule in America, that if you're going to be a truck driver, if you're going to drive an 18-wheeler, you're going to drive a school bus, you have to be proficient in the English language. You've got to be able to speak English, you have to understand road signs. It goes back decades, it's just that the rule was not being enforced. And so, we're now enforcing the rule. Because we've seen a number of crashes where again, these drivers, they can't read road signs, and if there is a crash, they can't communicate with the law enforcement. And so every state has complied. All of them except California. Which is baffling to us, because again, they should be just as concerned about safety as the rest of us.
The Secretary goes on to point out that a CDL issued in California is accepted anywhere in the United States - despite California's defiance of the English-language requirements.
My colleague Becky Noble has done some first-rate reporting on incidents resulting from this:
Read More: Another Illegal Immigrant Trucker Busted, but the Most Infuriating Part Is His Name
Now, the Department of Transportation is putting some pressure on California. Secretary Duffy continues:
We hope California gets on board. We've taken $40 million dollars away from them. We also have... They have also issued a lot of CDL licenses to those who are not here lawfully, or they'll issue a driver's license for five years, but the work permit for the migrant is only one year, so it extends well beyond the work permit, which encourages those who are here, maybe with a work permit, to stay beyond their work permit, because they have a driver's license. California has to do a lot of work in looking back at this system.
Secretary Duffy also notes that states other than California, when truckers are pulled over or involved in an incident wherein it is discovered that a driver cannot speak or read English proficiently, the truck is being impounded until the company sends out an English-proficient driver to take the load. That costs these companies a lot of money, and that may be the best way to fix this. California, let's face it, is and will be defiant on this matter, and will continue doing the most insane things to cater to illegal aliens as long as the Democrat supermajority remains in Sacramento, and as long as Gavin "A Little Dab'll Do Ya" Newsom is governor.
But when the trucking companies start feeling the pinch, when they are having to find and send out English-speaking, literate drivers to recover impounded trucks, you just see how long it takes them to start screening drivers for language proficiency.
That, even more than the withheld $40 million, may bring California back into line.
Editor’s Note: The Schumer Shutdown is here. Rather than put the American people first, Chuck Schumer and the radical Democrats forced a government shutdown for healthcare for illegals. They own this.
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