It’s a classic case of common sense on one side and reckless abandon on the other. The Trump administration, in its ongoing bid to tackle the immigration conundrum, has been adamantly targeting illegal immigrants who somehow manage to get their hands on commercial driver’s licenses. These aren’t just licenses to drive any vehicle, mind you, but licenses to take the wheel of massive tractor-trailers. The fact that some of these drivers barely speak English only adds a thrilling edge of unpredictability to our highways. Nothing screams road safety like barreling down the interstate at 65 mph while squinting at road signs in a foreign language, right?
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, with commendable resolve, has been at the helm of efforts to yank these licenses away. He’s taken the drastic but necessary step of threatening to withhold federal funds from states that think giving licenses to non-English speaking drivers is a fun experiment. California, for instance, seems to have woken up from its dreamland to agree to revoke over 21,000 licenses, though not without a side of fiery lawsuits from irate migrants. Predictably, chaos ensues as lawyers rub their hands together in anticipation of all the billable hours headed their way.
Of course, the backlash involves lawsuits claiming that the license revocations were a bureaucratic slip-up and giving no chance for corrections. Somehow, in this drama, the point that thousands of non-domicile CDL holders are squabbling over licenses to operate massive vehicles on American roads has been swept under the rug. Maybe they’d prefer drivers to hone their skills in English by conversing with traffic cops during random spot checks. Any chance of ticket sales to this spectacle of courtroom showdowns?
The recklessness of allowing anyone with a pulse to drive an 18-ton rig has already had tragic consequences. Numerous deadly accidents across the states have involved truckers who crossed borders without proper authorization and linguistic skills. The gall of some states to ignore road safety, in favor of appeasing the pro-license-for-all lobby, makes one wonder whether they’ve ever been stuck in traffic behind a jackknifed semi. Here’s a hint, California: If a driver can’t read a stop sign, perhaps letting them pilot 80,000 pounds of steel isn’t the best idea.
Secretary Duffy’s approach to this dilemma is refreshingly clear-cut. He’s not making up the rules; he’s simply enforcing them. If cities and states won’t play ball, then perhaps tightening the purse strings on their infrastructure funding will coax them into compliance. Nobody wants to be cruel or mean-spirited, and everyone loves a good redemption story, but let’s keep American roads safe so all those legal dreamers can peacefully pursue their American dreams without a fear of getting flattened by badly driven rigs.
