President Donald Trump’s Department of Transportation (DOT) has announced the results of a year-long crackdown on safety gaps caused by illegal immigration in the trucking industry.
Fox News reports that Operation Highway Shield began in Florida earlier this year and that the DOT has since expanded the effort to multiple states in the Midwest, including Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Ohio.
Officials have carried out 3,487 enforcement stops resulting in 766 unsafe commercial vehicles or drivers placed out of service, 51 immigration detentions, 47 criminal charges filed, 39 incarcerations, 36 English language proficiency (ELP) violations and three cargo theft recoveries totaling roughly $1 million in stolen freight.
HIGHWAY HAZARD: Trump admin’s trucking crackdown lands 51 immigration detentions and 36 English Language Proficiency violations after 3,487 enforcement stops across multiple states, Department of Transportation tells Fox News.
Operation Highway Shield, which began in Florida… pic.twitter.com/1j9BtLuBmE
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The Trump administration says federal immigration and commercial driving enforcement remains a top priority.
Florida troopers said up to half of truckers at some weigh stations cannot meet English proficiency requirements, according to Fox News.
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Master Trooper Craig Lents explained, “I try to concentrate on the [signs] they have to read. If you are going down the road at 70 miles per hour, and you see that sign, you only see it for a split second.”
According to the Trump administration, federal English requirements have been on the books for years.
Derek Barrs, Federal Motor Carrier Safety administrator, said, “It’s been the law for a long period of time. It’s a safety issue. … If there was a crash or something like that, I would want to make sure that driver would know how to respond — slow down for upcoming traffic or a crash that has happened up ahead.”
Administration officials explained that being unable to speak or read English is dangerous because truckers are driving by important road signs at high speeds while carrying hundreds of tons.
Fox News reports that the enforcement push follows a string of deadly crashes nationwide involving drivers the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) claims were in the U.S. illegally or operating with commercial drivers’ licenses (CDLs) they should never have had.
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