The Trump administration announced on Thursday that the country will no longer issue work visas for commercial truck drivers.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the move on X and said that the change was effective immediately.
“The increasing number of foreign drivers operating large tractor-trailer trucks on U.S. roads is endangering American lives and undercutting the livelihoods of American truckers,” he said.
There are about 720,00 foreign-born truck drivers in the US, making up 18 per cent of the industry, a figure that doubled between 2000 to 2021, according to figures from the National Association of Truck Stop Operators, DW reported.
More than half of the figure is made up of Latin Americans. In recent years, there has been a significant number of Indian and Eastern European nationals coming into the industry, especially from Ukraine. The truck industry has also seen an increase in Indian American drivers, especially from the Sikh community.
The US State Department also recently announced that it will be vetting over 55 million visa holders in the US for law violations, including overstays and criminal activity.
Over the past two months, at least 3000 truckers were taken off American roads after they failed a mandatory roadside English test. The halt is happening despite a truck driver shortage in the US. According to the American Trucking Association, a trade group, there is a 60,000 truck driver shortage in the industry, according to CBS.
The move comes after a fatal crash in Florida that killed three people after the driver, Harjinder Singh, made an illegal U-turn, crashing into a minivan. The truck driver was an Indian national who didn't speak English. The driver later failed a roadside English proficiency test, and federal officials called him an illegal immigrant who should not have been licensed. He had been charged with three counts of vehicular manslaughter.
ALSO READ
Republican officials had accused California governor Gavin Newsom of responsibility as the state had issued Singh with the license.
A White House statement made in April said that “Drivers should be able to read and understand traffic signs, communicate with officers, and give feedback to employers and customers in English.”