{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.hydesmith.senate.gov/commercial-drivers-license-system", "COMMERCIAL DRIVER'S LICENSE SYSTEM", "2025-12-04", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "Senate", "MS", "Cindy Hyde-Smith", "H001079", "www.hydesmith.senate.gov", "hydesmith", "https://www.hydesmith.senate.gov/newsroom", "scraper", "Congressional Record Vol. 171, No. 203\n\n(Senate - December 4, 2025) PDF\n\nMrs. HYDE-SMITH. Mr. President, I rise to call attention to a\n\ncritical safety issue that affects every American who travels our roads\n\nand highways.\n\nAcross the country, we are seeing a disturbing rise in deadly\n\naccidents involving large commercial trucks driven by individuals who\n\nshould have never been behind the wheel to begin with, often foreign\n\nnationals in the country illegally who exploited weaknesses in our\n\ncommercial driver's license or CDL system.\n\nWe have seen the video of the horrific crash in Florida where an\n\nundocumented immigrant driving an 18-wheeler made an illegal U-turn on\n\nthe interstate, killing three Americans who should be with us here\n\ntoday.\n\nIn mid-October, a semi-truck driver in California, in the United\n\nStates illegally, with an immigration detainer notice, was accused of\n\nbeing intoxicated when he slammed into multiple vehicles, killing three\n\npeople and injuring several more.\n\nSadly, incidents like this are becoming far too common, and we must\n\nask why. The answer lies in failed policies.\n\nUnder previous Democratic administrations, safety enforcement was\n\nweakened, loopholes were opened, and fraudulent CDL issuance went\n\nunchecked. Under the Obama administration, inspectors were directed to\n\nissue citations rather than take unsafe commercial vehicle drivers\n\ncompletely off the road--a policy decision that has resulted in loss of\n\nlife.\n\nMeanwhile, open border policies of prior administrations would have\n\nallowed illegal immigrants to enter the United States freely which,\n\ncombined with lax Federal oversight, has let some States issue CDLs\n\nwithout proper language or competency testing.\n\nA Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration audit prompted by\n\nPresident Trump found that multiple States issued nondomiciled CDLs\n\nimproperly to unqualified, often foreign drivers, even in some\n\ninstances allowing them to keep licenses after their legal status\n\nexpired.\n\nIn the Florida case, the FMCSA investigation revealed that the driver\n\nhad failed the English language proficiency test, answering only 2 out\n\nof the 12 verbal questions correctly. Yet multiple States still allowed\n\nhim to hold a valid CDL and operate a commercial vehicle on our roads.\n\nThe ongoing FMCSA audit revealed systemic violations by many States--\n\nincluding California, Washington, and New Mexico--that simply fail to\n\nfollow Federal laws and regulations as they issue CDLs, which has\n\nresulted in greater threats to public safety.\n\nAfter Secretary Duffy's criticism about California's lack of policy\n\nenforcement and threat to revoke Federal funding, California announced\n\nthe revocation of 17,000 CDLs that were given to immigrants without\n\nvalid visas. This means California has been allowing thousands of\n\nunqualified drivers to operate throughout the country. I thank this\n\nadministration and Secretary Duffy for taking action to hold States\n\naccountable for their mistakes.\n\nWhile some States look the other way, my home State of Mississippi\n\nhas tried to rein in this abuse in the trucking industry. Mississippi\n\nhas taken decisive action and, in just the last 3 months alone, has\n\nidentified 85 illegal drivers and referred them to Immigration and\n\nCustoms Enforcement.\n\nThe State of Mississippi does not issue nondomiciled licenses and\n\nstrictly enforces English language proficiency testing to keep our\n\nroads safe. My State is doing its part, but States cannot do this\n\nalone. The Federal Government must close these loopholes and enforce\n\nthe law.\n\nAs chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation,\n\nHousing, and Urban Development, I successfully included language in the\n\nfiscal year 2026 bill and report that builds upon the President's\n\nExecutive order to strengthen English proficiency requirements for\n\ncommercial drivers.\n\nI am also a proud cosponsor of Senator Marshall's Commercial Motor\n\nVehicle English Proficiency Act to ensure all applicants for CDLs must\n\npass the English proficiency test in English and not in any other\n\nlanguage.\n\nThis commonsense measure would help guarantee that all truckdrivers\n\ncan read traffic signs, communicate with law enforcement, and\n\nunderstand directions clearly and safely.\n\nIn addition, I cosponsored Senator Moody's Safer Truckers Act, which\n\nrestricts the issuance of CDLs to only U.S. citizens, lawful permanent\n\nresidents, and individuals who are authorized for employment by U.S.\n\nCitizenship and Immigration services.\n\nThese are commonsense reforms to restore integrity, accountability,\n\nand safety to our highways. At the same time, I commend the Trump\n\nadministration for taking action on this front, particularly Secretary\n\nNoem and law enforcement officials who recently carried out Operation\n\nMidway Blitz.\n\nThis enforcement action led to the arrest of 223 illegal aliens, 146\n\nof whom were truckdrivers. And just a few weeks ago, ICE announced the\n\narrest of a man from Uzbekistan with a Pennsylvania CDL who was allowed\n\nin our country by the Biden administration even though he was wanted by\n\nthe Government of Uzbekistan because of his links to a terrorist\n\norganization.\n\nNeedless to say, seeing ICE and State law enforcement come together\n\nto make America's roads safer is a step in the right direction.\n\nRepublicans in the Senate and this administration remain committed to\n\nprotecting American lives and keeping our roads safe. One key to do\n\nthat is to ensure CDL holders are here legally and are proficient in\n\nthe English language and can actually read road signs.", 1, "2026-09-16T09:43:13Z", "2026-09-16T09:44:22Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.hydesmith.senate.gov/commercial-drivers-license-system"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8616279810667038, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}