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Federal court order temporarily protects 200,000 immigrant truck drivers
Federal court pauses crackdown on non-citizen truckers as English tests sideline thousands; community fights back against politicized blame.
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Jeffin T. Kaleekal - Fri, 14, Nov 2025
- 01:50 EST
- 23
Representative image / Pexels
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has temporarily stayed The Department of Transport rule that intends to push almost 200,000 non-citizen drivers out of the trucking industry, and potentially boost rates for domestic carriers.
Passed in September, the rule took away states’ authority to issue non-domiciled CDL and CLP licenses. The department introduced the change after a series of crashes involving immigrant truck drivers who were in the country illegally but still held commercial licenses issued after their visas expired. The rule was meant to curb state-level noncompliance and prevent unqualified or undocumented drivers from securing U.S. commercial licenses.
The stay is temporary. The court said in its order, “The purpose of this administrative stay is to give the court sufficient opportunity to consider the emergency motions for stay pending review and should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits of those motions.”
English proficiency crackdown grounds thousands
While the order offers short-term relief, thousands of truck drivers across the country have been sidelined after failing new English proficiency tests, with Indian-origin and Latino drivers affected most.
Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy said in a post on X, “7248 drivers placed out of service for failing to meet Trump’s English language proficiency standards as of October 2025.”
Duffy added, “The US department of transport requires commercial truck drivers to speak and understand English to operate a big rig- or they will be taken out of service.”
ALSO READ: Trump says truck drivers must speak English
High-profile crashes that sparked the controversy
Twenty-eight-year-old illegal immigrant truck driver Harjinder Singh allegedly caused a crash that killed three people on Florida’s Turnpike. Federal officials confirmed Singh entered the U.S. illegally in 2018 and later obtained a commercial driver’s license in California.
ALSO READ: Outrage Erupts After California Licensed Illegal Indian Immigrant Behind Fatal Florida Crash
In another incident, Jashanpreet Singh was arrested for allegedly driving an 18-wheeler that plowed into several vehicles, causing an eight-vehicle pileup that left three people dead and four others injured. Dash-cam footage showed he failed to brake before impact, and toxicology tests found narcotics in his system. Singh faces charges of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and driving under the influence. The Department of Homeland Security said Singh entered the United States illegally through the southern border in 2022 and was released into the country under the Biden administration.
ALSO READ: ICE lodges detainer for Indian national accused in fatal California crash
Community rallies in support, questions politicization
The truckers have received strong backing from community members. A change.org petition addressed to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Board of Executive Clemency argues that Harjinder Singh’s actions were a tragic mistake rather than a deliberate crime.
Signed by millions, the petition requests that if convicted, Singh be given a “proportionate and reasonable” sentence with options such as parole eligibility or alternatives to incarceration.
Community organizations including United Sikhs and Sikh Coalition have condemned the U.S. government for politicizing the accidents to meet partisan goals and for using the incidents to stigmatize an entire community.
The Trump administration came down heavily on the accused. DHS secretary Kristi Noem described Harjinder Singh as an illegal alien and said, "3 innocent people were killed in Florida because Gavin Newsom’s California DMV issued an illegal alien a Commercial Driver’s License. This gut wrenching tragedy should have never happened."
In her post on X, Noem also promised to work with the DOT to ensure that that illegal aliens do not get licenses from sanctuary jurisdictions.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy called the incident “a preventable tragedy directly caused by reckless decisions and compounded by despicable failures.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the two cases highlight a “disturbing pattern” of unqualified, undocumented drivers obtaining commercial licences.
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