The Trump administration has revoked the accreditation of 110 commercial trucking schools that certified more than 5,000 drivers who later failed to demonstrate English proficiency, expanding a crackdown that has increasingly focused on immigrant drivers and the institutions that train them.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced the removals Monday, saying the schools had certified drivers who subsequently failed English-language checks during roadside inspections. The Department of Transportation is also moving to remove more than 160 additional schools over inadequate training practices and will conduct a nationwide audit of third-party commercial driver's license testers.
"We have schools that know the rule and still pass people through their school who can't speak the language," Duffy said, as The New York Times reports.
Commercial drivers have long been required to have sufficient English proficiency to read road signs and communicate with authorities. President Donald Trump ordered stricter enforcement of that requirement in April 2025, directing that drivers who fail to meet it be placed out of service.
Since June 2025, more than 28,000 commercial drivers have been placed out of service for failing English-proficiency checks, according to the Transportation Department. The agency also says states have canceled more than 30,000 licenses improperly issued to foreign drivers and that thousands of unqualified training providers have been removed from the federal registry.
The enforcement campaign has extended beyond English proficiency. A rule that took effect earlier this year sharply restricted which immigrants can obtain or renew non-domiciled commercial licenses, affecting asylum seekers, refugees and DACA recipients with work authorization, as The Guardian reported in May. The rule faces legal challenges, and critics argue the administration has not demonstrated that immigrant drivers pose a disproportionate safety risk.
The administration has also pressured states to revoke licenses it considers improperly issued, at times threatening to withhold federal transportation funding.
The latest action shifts some of the scrutiny toward the schools and testers responsible for certifying drivers. Federal investigators examined nearly 400 training providers across 40 states and found that roughly 40% failed to comply with regulations, according to Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration chief Derek Barrs.
"If you're here illegally and you can't speak the language and you're not well trained," Duffy said, "you don't deserve to be in a big rig."
