A series of fatal accidents in 2025 spurred calls for reforms and better scrutiny of non-resident foreign commercial driver license holders and applicants.
Thousands of foreign truck drivers have already lost, or are about to lose, their Commercial Driver’s Licenses (CDLs) amid a nationwide effort to enforce new federal rules.
Despite an estimated nationwide shortage of 115,000 big-rig drivers, industry leaders say these regulatory changes are necessary to promote road safety, better wages, and more job opportunities for U.S.-born drivers.
“My response is absolutely we can handle it because [unqualified foreign drivers] shouldn’t be on the road to begin with,” John Esparza, president and CEO of the Texas Trucking Association, told The Epoch Times.
“We are in the process of cleaning it out.”
A rise in truck-related deaths involving foreign drivers led the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to launch a broad audit in June to identify which states had issued licenses incorrectly.
This followed other Department of Transportation (DOT) actions, such as requiring English proficiency for truck drivers.
FMCSA audit results published in September revealed that thousands of CDLs had been issued improperly. Of the approximately 4 million commercial driver license holders in the United States, the FMCSA found that almost 200,000 were issued to foreign nationals who did not live in the country or the issuing state.
As a result, Colorado, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, and Washington stopped issuing certain licenses to out-of-state foreign drivers. Nevada has announced plans to phase out about 1,000 limited-term commercial driver’s licenses for non-domiciled haulers.
In November, California revoked the licenses of 17,000 foreign drivers that had been improperly issued.
The DOT said the 17,000 drivers have been notified that “their license no longer meets federal requirements and will expire in 60 days.”
There are more than 130,000 license holders statewide.
Meanwhile, Texas is actively reviewing thousands of commercial licenses and suspending those that fail to meet the latest requirements.
Texas is home to almost 200,000 commercial truck drivers, the most in the nation, according to the Texas Comptroller’s office. In 2024, the state issued 6,265 CDLs to foreign drivers.
By Allan Stein
