CDL News Updates

Per an indictment filed Aug. 28, the individuals solicited and accepted bribes in exchange for providing CDLs to individuals who did not undergo “legally required training or testing.”

The 2025 crackdown reflects a federal shift that more tightly links commercial driver licensing and English-language standards with immigration enforcement and roadway safety.

Alabama has detained more than 240 individuals through immigration enforcement actions targeting truck drivers, with federal agents focusing on rural interstates with high crash rates.

2025 was marked by a sharpened focus on highway safety as well as potential challenges for the freight industry associated with tariffs and the economy.

“Fifty-three percent of New York’s non-domiciled [commercial driver licenses] were issued unlawfully or illegally," Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says.

New York routinely issues licenses to immigrants that may be valid long after they are legally authorized to be in the country, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Dec. 12.

In October, Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly and New York State Inspector General Lucy Lang announced a 51-count indictment against seven people.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Dec. 3 granted the agency’s Nov. 19 request to hold the case in abeyance, effectively putting the case on hold.

The language crackdown is part of a broader Trump administration campaign that’s upending the trucking industry, a critical pillar of the U.S. economy.

A group of state trucking associations has released an action plan identifying seven areas bad actors exploit in the industry with solutions to eliminate fraud and illegal operators.