Several high-profile fatal crashes in 2025 involving non-citizen truck drivers prompted the Department of Transportation to investigate how commercial driver’s licenses were being issued. Crashes in Florida that killed three people, in Texas that killed five, and in Alabama that killed two exposed widespread fraud and irregularities, including fake CDL schools, bribery schemes, fraudulent Mexican licenses, and state failures to properly verify immigration status.
On August 12, 2025, a crash on the Florida Turnpike killed three people when Harjinder Singh, a 28-year-old driver from India, attempted an illegal U-turn in an area marked for official use only. Singh had entered the United States illegally through Mexico in 2018 and later obtained a California commercial driver’s license. His trailer jackknifed, causing a minivan to become wedged underneath.
Investigators reported that Singh had been denied a work permit in 2020 and later received one in April 2025. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration investigators tested Singh for English proficiency, and he answered only two of twelve verbal questions correctly and identified just one of four traffic signs.
On March 13, 2025, a 17-vehicle pileup occurred in a construction zone on Interstate 35 in Austin, Texas, killing five people, including an infant and a four-year-old child, and hospitalizing eleven others. The driver, Solomun Weldekeal Araya, a 37-year-old Ethiopian national on a work visa, was hauling freight for Amazon.
He was charged with intoxication manslaughter after tests detected central nervous system depressants, although he claimed brake failure. Inspectors found no mechanical issues and cited prior hours-of-service violations, unsafe lane changes, and failure to follow traffic signs. Araya faces 22 charges, including manslaughter.
A third crash occurred on May 6, 2025, in Thomasville, Alabama, when a loaded semi-truck struck four vehicles stopped at a red light at highway speed, killing two people and injuring four others. The driver, Andrii Dmyterko, a 45-year-old Ukrainian national on a work visa, was on his third day on the job.
Authorities reported that neither the driver nor his passenger spoke English and communicated only in Russian. Investigators noted a failed skills test related to speeding, missing immigration paperwork, and confiscated the driver’s phone.
Safety experts estimate that as many as 130,000 illegal-alien truck drivers may be operating in the United States, with tens of thousands believed to have obtained licenses through illegitimate means. English proficiency enforcement was expanded following an executive order reversing prior guidance.
As of June 25, 2025, inspectors are authorized to place drivers out of service for lack of English proficiency, and approximately 9,500 commercial drivers have been removed from service since late June for failing to meet the requirement. Department of Transportation data shows that drivers cited for English-language violations have higher crash rates than those cited for speeding or drug- and alcohol-related offenses.
As a result of these findings, the Trump administration has threatened to withhold highway funding from states that fail to comply with federal audits and revoke licenses issued under questionable circumstances, including California at $160 million, New York at $73 million, Texas at $182 million, and Minnesota at $30 million. California has already begun revoking 17,000 improperly issued licenses.
In December 2025, an FMCSA audit found that 53 percent of sampled non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses in New York were issued illegally. The audit cited automatic eight-year license issuance regardless of immigration status expiration, failure to verify lawful presence, and reliance on expired documentation. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned that New York could lose up to $73 million in federal highway funding if the state fails to address the findings within 30 days.
New York’s Department of Motor Vehicles rejected the allegations, stating that it complies with federal requirements and verifies lawful status using federally issued documents. State officials characterized the funding threat as a political action that does not improve road safety. Similar funding threats or enforcement actions have been directed at Minnesota, Illinois, Chicago, and California.
In California, audits found that 25 percent of 145 non-domiciled licenses reviewed since June 2025 were improperly issued, including cases where licenses remained valid years after work permits expired. In addition to revoking 17,000 licenses, California has filed a lawsuit against the federal government seeking the return of tens of millions of dollars in withheld transportation funding, arguing that the funding cuts are arbitrary and unlawful.
Additional audits identified improper issuance practices in California, Colorado, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, and Washington. Federal findings showed that 17 percent of convictions were not transmitted from law enforcement to motor vehicle departments, incorrect disqualification dates were entered, and administrative appeals were granted when they should not have been allowed.
Investigations also uncovered large-scale training and licensing fraud. In Washington State, Skyline CDL School bribed a state examiner to secure passing scores, with some drivers never taking the test and 80 percent failing when retested. Records showed unqualified instructors, falsified documentation, bypassed English-language requirements, and more than 100 licenses were canceled.
In Texas, investigators found encampments of commercial trucks operated by drivers using fraudulent Mexican federal licenses obtained digitally by submitting photos and wiring payments.
In Louisiana, six defendants were indicted in August 2025 for a bribery scheme that bypassed federally mandated testing and training requirements. Arkansas responded by passing Act 604, making the presentation of a fake commercial driver’s license a felony and requiring English proficiency and employment authorization checks.
In response to the findings, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration removed nearly 3,000 non-compliant training providers from the federal registry and issued emergency rules in September 2025 restricting non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses to limited visa categories.
The rules require unexpired passports and valid entry records, cap license duration at one year or visa expiration, mandate in-person renewals, and require states to pause new issuance until compliance is verified. Of approximately 200,000 non-citizens holding commercial driver’s licenses, federal officials estimate that only 10,000 qualify under the new standards.
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