For months now, the U.S. Department of Transportation and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration have vowed to take unqualified truck drivers off the road.
According to the DOT, a recent operation conducted in 26 states and the District of Columbia sidelined more than 2,000 truckers. Meanwhile, FMCSA is working toward the release of an updated final rule on non-domiciled CDLs.
Operation SafeDRIVE, carried out 8,215 inspections from Jan. 13-15, placing 1,231 commercial motor vehicles and 704 truck drivers out of service. Additionally, 56 were arrested for such actions as driving under the influence and being in the U.S. illegally. English-proficiency violations accounted for nearly 500 of the out-of-service violations.
The operation took place in Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia
“Operation SafeDRIVE shows what happens when we work together with our law enforcement partners to pull unqualified drivers and vehicles off American roads,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a news release. “We need a whole-of-government approach to ensure the Trump administration’s strong standards of safety are in place to protect American families and reduce road accidents.”
Non-domiciled CDLs and English proficiency
Saying that CDLs had been issued to thousands of truck drivers who were unqualified, unvetted and potentially in the United States illegally, the DOT and FMCSA have spent much of the past year enforcing longstanding English-proficiency regulations and working to clean up the non-domiciled CDL system.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order in April 2025 to resume placing truck drivers out of service if they don’t know enough English to read road signs and communicate with law enforcement.
In September 2025, FMCSA issued an emergency final rule that would revoke nearly 200,000 non-domiciled CDLs.
However, a lawsuit forced the DOT to pause the effective date and continue the regular public comment period. The agency received more than 8,000 comments and has now submitted an updated final rule for review to the White House Office of Management and Budget.
FMCSA has said the rule and the recent enforcement operations are focused on safety. The agency has cited several recent fatal truck crashes involving non-domiciled CDL holders.
“This operation was about safety,” FMCSA Administrator Derek Barrs said. “When drivers ignore the rules, operate without proper qualifications or get behind the wheel impaired, they put all of our lives at risk. Operation SafeDRIVE demonstrates the value of focused enforcement and strong partnerships in removing these drivers and vehicles from our roads.”
Barrs recently told Land Line that strengthening the qualifications of CDL holders is his top priority as administrator. LL
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