Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced today that the Trump administration is cracking down on renegade states that do not comply with federal highway safety regulations that require proficiency in English for commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs). The target: illegal-alien truck drivers who can’t speak English.
Duffy acted 12 days after an Indian illegal, Harjinder Singh, illegally made a U-turn from the right lane on the Florida Turnpike, which caused a following motorist to crash into the trailer of his 18-wheel tractor trailer. Three people were killed.
After the wreck, Singh failed English proficiency tests, despite having CDLs from two far-left states, California and Washington.
In a related story, also today the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a list of fatalities caused by illegal-aliens behind the wheel.
The Wreck
An illegal who jumped the border in 2018, Singh was caught and given a notice of expedited removal. But then, as have so many illegals, he claimed fear of persecution if he was returned home. That got a him free pass to stay in the country. The Biden administration gave him a work permit.
DOT later revealed that Singh is, for all intents and purposes, illiterate.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) disclosed that Singh couldn’t speak or read English. Agency gumshoes “administered an English Language Proficiency (ELP) assessment in accordance with FMCSA guidance,” DOT revealed:
The driver failed the assessment, providing correct responses to just 2 of 12 verbal questions and only accurately identifying 1 of 4 highway traffic signs.
Singh’s failing grades: 16.7 percent and 25 percent.
That didn’t stop the best and brightest in California and Washington from turning him loose in a vehicle that can weigh up to 80,000 pounds. Washington unleashed Singh on unsuspecting motorists on July 15, 2023, even though illegals are not eligible for CDLs.
California gave him a limited CDL the following July.
When New Mexico cops stopped Singh just last month for speeding and inspected his vehicle, “there is no indication that an ELP assessment was administered,” FMCSA found. That, too, violated federal regulations.
Federal Funding Jeopardized
So now, the three states “will lose federal funding unless they adopt and enforce English Language Proficiency (ELP) requirements for commercial motor vehicle drivers,” DOT announced today.
The states must be in compliance within 30 days or lose all funding from the Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program (MCSAP).
“States don’t get to pick and choose which federal safety rules to follow,” Duffy said.
Also today, the three states received “Notices of Proposed Determination of Nonconformity, which open a formal process.” Those will end federal funding from MCSAP if the states do not comply with ELP standards.
California has failed to adopt and enforce compatible ELP laws and regulations. From June 25, 2025 through August 21, 2025, of the roughly 34,000 inspections resulting in at least one reported violation, only one inspection involved an ELP violation resulting in a driver being placed out of service. Notably, at least 23 drivers with documented ELP out-of-service violations in other states were later inspected in California — yet the state failed to honor those violations or enforce ELP, allowing unqualified drivers to continue operating on our roads.
Washington and New Mexico have adopted ELP regulations, but are not enforcing them. In Washington’s case, of more than 6,000 inspections in the last year that resulted in a reported violation, “only four inspections involved an ELP violation resulting in a driver being placed out of service,” DOT reported:
Moreover, two inspections resulted in ELP citations but the driver was not placed out-of-service — contrary to Federal requirements. In addition, at least 4 drivers with documented ELP out-of-service violations in other states were later inspected in Washington — yet the state failed to honor those violations or enforce ELP, undermining federal safety standards and leaving dangerous gaps in enforcement.
As for New Mexico in the last year, the state reported that it placed “zero drivers out-of-service for ELP violations and allowed at least seven unqualified drivers already found unable to meet ELP standards to keep driving and endangering the lives of others.”
California could lose about $30 million in federal funding, the Insurance Journal website reported, citing federal data. Washington and New Mexico will lose about $10 million and $6.7 million, respectively.
Other Deadly Illegal-alien Crashes
The DHS list of traffic fatalities caused by illegals includes the shocking story of an illegal Honduran who, for some inexplicable reason, was hurtling down the streets in Nashville, Tennessee, in a Maserati SQ4, which costs upwards of $100,000 and can reach a speed of nearly 180 mph.
On August 10 this year, Julio Herrera Gonzalez smashed a Nissan Rogue when he crossed into oncoming traffic, DHS reported, citing local police. He killed Raquel Lorena Sarabia Barajas, a passenger in the Nissan, and sent the driver, Marco Antonio Baez Del Angel to the hospital in critical condition.
He faces charges of drunk driving, vehicular assault and manslaughter, and driving without a license. [Emphasis added.]
Gonzalez, who has a vandalism conviction, received Temporary Protected Status in 2008. It was revoked in 2015.
A drunk-driving illegal in Wisconsin killed two teenagers in July.
Aside from Singh’s and Gonzalez’s crashes and the Wisconsin fatalities, DHS listed numerous others caused by illegals.
