Nearly 200,000 non-domiciled CDL holders are set to exit the freight market following a final rule from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
If the rule results in any driver shortages, President Donald Trump said the plan is to replace non-domiciled CDL holders with military veterans.
During this week’s Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit, Trump said the administration will soon take “historic action” to remove illegal truck drivers from the road and “replace them with proud American veterans.”
.@POTUS announces that any American veteran who has driven a heavy truck for our military will soon be eligible for a Commercial Driver’s License 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/Qen6VIk94Z
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 15, 2026
The president’s comments came weeks after Pennsylvania state trooper Michael E. Pahira Jr., was killed while conducting a commercial motor vehicle inspection along Interstate 81. According to Pennsylvania State Police, a second truck left the roadway and struck the patrol unit’s side mirror. Pahira was transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Michael Bon, who was operating the second commercial motor vehicle, was arrested by Pennsylvania State Police on July 1 and charged with homicide by vehicle. The following day, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement lodged an immigration detainer against Bon.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, Bon is a 33-year-old “illegal alien” from Haiti who received a CDL in Massachusetts. Meanwhile, the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles said the federal database showed that Bon was eligible for a non-domiciled CDL when he renewed it this past February.
The crash has increased momentum behind efforts to clean up the CDL process and remove unvetted drivers from the road.
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association recently asked House Speaker Mike Johnson to pass Dalilah’s Law, which aims to ensure that CDL holders are properly trained and meet safety standards, including proficiency in English.
Trump called for Congress to pass Dalilah’s Law during his State of the Union address earlier this year.
Along with efforts to remove non-citizen drivers, Trump said he wants to open the door to military veterans.
“We’re going to take our veterans … we’re going to teach them a lot about driving trucks,” Trump said. “And in many cases, they know. We’re going to say any American who’s driven a heavy truck for our military will automatically be eligible for a commercial driver’s license. So, we’re going to get them taken care of.”
Although no additional details have been released about the president’s plan, there are already programs designed to convert military veterans into truck drivers. The military skills test waiver program, for instance, allows drivers with two years’ experience safely operating heavy military vehicles to obtain a CDL without taking the driving test. According to FMCSA, 40,000 service members and veterans have taken advantage of this program. LL
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