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Americans who keep our highways safe are rightly furious that states and federal agencies allowed loopholes that let noncitizens obtain commercial driver’s licenses for years. After a series of audits and deadly crashes, the Department of Transportation finally moved to tighten the rules — a long-overdue correction that should have come sooner.
The new emergency rule narrows CDL eligibility to specific employment visas and forces states to verify immigration status through federal records, requiring passports and I‑94 entries and shortening CDLs to match authorized stay. This isn’t about punishing legal workers; it’s about restoring basic accountability so anyone piloting 80,000‑pound rigs on American roads can be properly vetted.
Good on Texas for immediately pausing CDL issuance to certain noncitizen categories while the rules get sorted — leadership matters when safety is on the line. Governor Greg Abbott and state officials moved to protect Texans and freight operations from the mess caused by soft-on‑border policies in blue states.
Contrast that common-sense action with California and New York, where bureaucratic laxity — and some political posturing — produced dangerous results and federal pushback. The Transportation Department recently threatened to withhold tens of millions from California for failing to enforce English‑proficiency checks during inspections, a direct rebuke no state should shrug off.
Worse still, Homeland Security investigators say New York wrongly vouched that an immigrant’s CDL was properly issued after the license turned up in a routine inspection far from where it was originally granted. That kind of sloppy verification endangers every American on the road, especially when CDLs can authorize drivers to haul hazardous materials.
These federal fixes were provoked by tragedies that tore through families and communities, including a Florida crash that cost innocent lives and highlighted how weak oversight becomes lethal. When government treats rule‑breaking as an administrative inconvenience instead of a criminal problem, the public pays with blood and broken lives.
Conservatives should be unapologetic in demanding that only those with verifiable lawful status and the ability to communicate in English operate massive commercial vehicles. This is common sense public‑safety policy, not xenophobia; it’s about preserving order, respecting lawful immigrants who follow the rules, and protecting working Americans who load, drive, and deliver our goods.
Now is the moment for governors and state legislatures to cooperate with federal law, purge improperly issued CDLs, and secure our borders so this problem never reappears. Hardworking patriots across the country deserve a government that prioritizes their safety over political optics — and if officials won’t act, voters should replace them with leaders who will.
