The State of Indiana is a single move has revoked nearly 1800 CDLs.
According to reports the State of Indiana has decided through the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the passage of Indiana House Enrolled Act 1200 to remove all CDLs that were assigned to non citizens
This is something that we are going to see more and more of under the Trump administration. Indiana may be the first to revoke thousands of CDLs but they are not going to be the last.
Unfortunately over the last few years we are seeing more and more fatal accidents and the drivers tend to be in the non citizen category. The issue the long term drivers have is that the new breed of drivers tend to be undertrained and lack experience. Along with a number of CDL schools being shut down by DOT and the number of CDL under investigation for fraud the Government on both the State and Federal level are being forced to act
As someone who makes their living on the road using my CDL I have no issue with someone coming to Canada or the United States and going through a real CDL school and earning their license through traditional means. I do have issues with drivers who are using ways to gain their license through illegal methods and putting everyone on the road at risk due to lack of proper training
Indiana cancels nearly 1,800 non-domicile CDLs for immigrant drivers
Indiana has revoked thousands of commercial drivers licenses for non-citizens in light of a federal and state crackdown on immigrant truck drivers.
The state’s Bureau of Motor Vehicles said 1,790 drivers were notified by mail on March 16 that their licenses would be canceled because of new restrictions enacted by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the passage of Indiana House Enrolled Act 1200.
HEA 1200 took effect on April 1.
“Nearly all non-domiciled CDL drivers (in Indiana) have lost their CDL privileges,” said Gregory Dunn, the BMV’s executive director of communications. State and federal restrictions align. Non-domicile commercial licenses are held by drivers of semi-trucks, buses and delivery vehicles.
The changes are taking effect amid a nationwide immigration crackdown. The Trump administration turned an eye toward immigrant truck drivers after several high-profile fatal crashes, arguing that states were not properly vetting foreign driving records and were issuing licenses to drivers who lacked English language proficiency. The administration has also said that undocumented immigrants made roadways American roadways unsafe.
Among the crashes were several that took place in Indiana. A head-on collision occurred between a semi-truck and a passenger vehicle in Porter County in October, resulting in the death of a 54-year-old Mishawaka man. The driver of the semi, 41-year-old Borko Stankovic, only had a regular Illinois license.
Several months later in February, Bekzhan Beishekeev, a commercial truck driver from Kyrgyzstan, was detained by ICE after the large truck he was driving collided with a passenger van in Jay County, resulting in the deaths of four people. Last month, 24-year-old Sukhdeep Singh was charged with reckless homicide and reckless driving for an accident that resulted in the death of 64-year-old Terry Schultz who was driving in Hendricks County.
During his State of the Union address, President Donald Trump called for new restrictions on non-domicile CDLs, and Indiana became the first state to answer that call with House Bill 1200 which took aim at drivers without approved work visas.
Critics of the federal changes say the crackdown is another means of immigration enforcement and say available data is insufficient to prove that holders of non-domicile CDLs cause more accidents than citizen drivers. In discourse over the changes, the federal government conceded this point.
Indiana cancels nearly 1,800 non-domicile CDLs for immigrant drivers
