CARLISLE, Pa. — President Donald Trump said Wednesday that his administration was cracking down on immigrant truck drivers and would seek to replace them with veterans.
“We are going to take our veterans; we’re going to teach them a lot about driving trucks,” Trump said, to take the place of drivers without legal immigration status, which he claimed without providing evidence were causing many accidents.
The president added that “any American who has driven a heavy truck for our military will automatically be eligible for a commercial driver’s license.” He did not give details on the proposal.
Trump’s remarks, made during a military investment summit in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, appeared to reflect a broader administration push to curtail immigrant commercial licenses, including for legal residents. In March, about 200,000 immigrant drivers who had authorization to live and work in the United States lost their licenses.
An April 2025 executive order directed the Transportation Department to impose an English-language requirement for commercial drivers, and to review the licenses of foreign citizens who are authorized to work in the United States.