White House Finds Replacements for Illegal Immigrant Truck Drivers

• July 30, 2026

A man with blond hair sits at a desk, looking surprised, while another man in a blue suit stands behind him smiling. Flags and a gold curtain are visible in the background.

President Donald Trump and Transportation Sec. Sean Duffy. (Ken Cedeno / AFP / Getty Images)

After cracking down on illegal immigrant truck drivers, President Donald Trump is seeking another demographic to fill the void: American veterans.

Trump will announce Thursday the “Freedom Haulers initiative,” which will provide more avenues for military veterans to become commercial truck drivers.

The Department of Transportation is expanding eligibility for veterans to receive expedited commercial driver’s licenses, extending the waiver period from 12 months to 24 months after active-duty service.

Veterans who lack heavy commercial vehicle driving experience will be eligible for training. Nebraska-based trucking company Werner Enterprises will announce that it plans to hire 1,400 new veteran drivers.

This is part of the Trump administration’s effort to restrict commercial driver’s licenses for noncitizens and institute English language proficiency requirements, following a series of deadly accidents.

Last August, illegal immigrant truck driver Harjinder Singh pulled an illegal U-turn in Florida, killing three American citizens. According to the Transportation Department, three states—Washington state, New Mexico, and California—may have violated federal regulations in granting Singh a commercial driver’s license.

Earlier in July, a Haitian national who entered the United States illegally was operating a semi-truck as he struck and killed a Pennsylvania State Police trooper.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy also issued new guidelines requiring enforcement of English-language proficiency standards for commercial truck drivers. Since then, more than 24,000 commercial driver’s licenses have been revoked, and another 28,000 CDLs have been stripped from noncitizen truck drivers.

“By leading a multi-agency process spanning the departments of Transportation, Labor, Veterans Affairs and War, President Trump is bolstering America’s trucking industry, which is crucial to strong supply chains, while helping our nation’s heroes transition to civilian life with quality, good-paying jobs,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told Fox News Digital.

Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell | White House Correspondent

Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell is the White House correspondent for the Daily Signal.

Follow on X TheElizMitchell

Read the first chapter of The Woketopus right now for FREE

Today, even with President Trump’s victory, leftist elites have their tentacles in every aspect of our government.

The Daily Signal’s own Tyler O’Neil exposes this leftist cabal in his new book, The Woketopus: The Dark Money Cabal Manipulating the Federal Government.

In this book, O’Neil reveals how the Left’s NGO apparatus pursues its woke agenda, maneuvering like an octopus by circumventing Congress and entrenching its interests in the federal government.
You can read the first chapter of this new book for FREE in this eBook, The Woketopus: Chapter One using the secure link below.

GET MY FREE EBOOK