Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned three states could lose millions in federal funding if they do not enforce English language requirements for truck drivers.

Duffy identified California, Washington, and New Mexico.

“Enforcing English proficiency rules is about keeping EVERYBODY safe on the road,” Duffy wrote on X.

“Nobody driving an 18-wheeler should be allowed on America’s highways if they can’t speak and read English,” he added.

“This is about keeping people safe on the road. Your families, your kids, your spouses, your loved ones, your friends,” Duffy said at a press conference.

ADVERTISEMENT

“We all use the roadway, and we need to make sure that those who are driving big rigs — semis — can understand the road signs, that they’ve been well trained,” he added.

The warning follows an illegal migrant truck driver making a reckless U-turn in Florida that resulted in three fatalities.

WATCH: Reckless U-Turn By Illegal Migrant Semi-Truck Driver Results In Three Fatalities – Faces Vehicular Homicide Charges

 

"@USDOT gave states more than a MONTH to comply with our English language proficiency requirements for commercial drivers," Duffy said.

"When states don’t comply, they put American families on the road in danger. This is just the beginning. We will never stop fighting to put American truckers first," he continued.

More from The Independent:

An investigation into the deadly crash found what Duffy called significant failures in the way all three states are enforcing rules that took effect in June after an executive order by President Donald Trump.

Truckers are supposed to be disqualified if they can't demonstrate English proficiency, and Duffy said the driver involved in the August 12 crash, Harjinder Singh, should not have been given a commercial driver's license in Washington and California due to his immigration status.

Singh has been living in the U.S. illegally since 2018, according to federal authorities. He and his passenger were not injured when a minivan slammed into his trailer as he made the U-turn.

Duffy also said New Mexico should have taken Singh off the road for not speaking English after he was pulled over last month, because it’s claimed he later failed a test given by Transportation Department investigators after the Florida collision.

Singh has been charged with three state counts of vehicular homicide and immigration violations and he was denied bond on all charges.

ADVERTISEMENT

"@SecDuffy announces enforcement actions against California, New Mexico, and Washington for failing to comply with the Trump Administration's English Language Proficiency Standards for commercial truck drivers," the Rapid Response 47 X account noted.

PBS noted:

The Transportation Department said California has conducted roughly 34,000 inspections that found at least one violation since the new language standards took effect requiring truck drivers be able to recognize and read road signs and communicate with authorities in English. But only one inspection involved an English language rules violation that resulted in a driver being taken out of service. And 23 drivers with violations in other states were allowed to continue driving after inspections in California.

He cited similar statistics for the other states with Washington finding more than 6,000 violations of safety rules during inspections, but only pulling four drivers out of service for English language violations. New Mexico has not placed any drivers out of service since the rules took effect.

Watch Duffy's full comments below:

 

Join The Conversation. Leave a Comment.