President Trump is promising to focus even harder on truck driver licenses going to illegal migrants and the trucker schools that train them in the wake of the death of a Pennsylvania state trooper who was run down by a migrant trucker.
Trump added that his administration is taking “historic action” to target illegal migrant truckers and to get them off the roadways.
“My administration will soon take historic action to get illegal alien truck drivers off the roads who are just killing a lot of people,” Trump said. “They can’t read signs. Many of them are on drugs or alcohol, and they shouldn’t be driving these things.”
The president made his comments on Tuesday during the Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit in Carlisle, where he cited the death of Pennsylvania State Trooper Michael Pahira. The trooper was killed when an illegal migrant from Haiti with a commercial truck driver’s license (CDL) issued by Massachusetts ran him down as he conducted a safety check of another vehicle on the side of Interstate 81 in Schuylkill County.
We’re here in Pennsylvania, where State Trooper Michael Pahira, Jr., was killed just two weeks ago by an illegal alien operating a semi-truck on a commercial driver’s license, which he should never have had,” Trump said, according to WGAL-TV.
The migrant driver, Michael Bon, 33, has been in the U.S. illegally for at least a year. He was allowed into the U.S. during the Biden administration having entered on July 2, 2024. He had applied for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) on October 26, 2024, but that status was never granted, officials stated. He has been living in the U.S. illegally ever since and was notified by the Department of Homeland Security in June of last year that he would have to go back home to Haiti.
One of the actions the Trump administration is conducting includes sanctions against the truck driver schools that are training these illegal migrants.
In February, the Department of Transportation (DOT) announced that it was set to look into the operations of more than 550 truck driver schools nationwide by sending out inspectors looking for violations of Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s safety standards.
“For too long, the trucking industry has operated like the Wild, Wild, West, where anything goes and nobody asks any questions. The buck stops with me,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement.
“American families should have confidence that our school bus and truck drivers are following every letter of the law and that starts with receiving proper training before getting behind the wheel.”
This month, Fox News’ Bill Melugin reported that 75 schools are being charged with fraud.
“NEW: DHS [Department of Homeland Security] and DOT have announced they’ve identified 75 entry level truck driver CDL schools across the U.S. that are suspected of fraudulently helping non-citizen drivers qualify for CDLs, and the agencies are partnering to investigate them, with HSI [Homeland Security Investigations] and DOT already visiting some of the schools to probe them,” Melugin wrote on X.
“Some of the schools are suspected of falsifying training records, providing improper certifications, and failing to properly train the drivers,” he continued.
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin added, “Too many American lives have been lost in completely avoidable accidents because illegal aliens have been granted commercial driver’s licenses to drive trucks and 18-wheelers on America’s roadways.”
“DHS law enforcement is partnering with the Department of Transportation to eliminate CDL fraud, strengthen the integrity of the CDL system, and investigate commercial driver’s license schools throughout the country. This is a whole of government approach to keep America’s roads safe.”
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy also commented, writing, “USDOT has spent the last year rooting out bad actors from our trucking industry.”
“We’ve knocked over 24,000 drivers off our roads for failing to speak English, forced states to cancel over 28,000 licenses illegally issued to foreign drivers, and purged over 9,500 unqualified training schools from our FMCSA [Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration] registry. DHS will be a force multiplier of our efforts to clean up America’s roads. President Trump is using every lever at his disposal to ensure the safety of American families.”
DOT chief Duffy added a comment on X, writing, “FRAUDSTERS CAN RUN, BUT THEY CAN’T DRIVE.”
“If you cheat the system by giving illegal aliens commercial driver’s licenses: WE WILL FIND YOU, AND YOU WILL PAY A HEAVY PRICE. Our @DHSgov partnership is a massive force multiplier as we shut down these corrupt operations. President Trump is using every lever to clean up our roads and keep Americans safe,” he said.
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