Nearly 200,000 truck drivers in the United States are at risk of losing their commercial driver's licences after the US Department of Transportation (DOT) introduced a new rule that disqualifies many foreign-born drivers from obtaining or renewing their licences. The rule, which took effect in March, restricts licences to immigrants with specific employment authorisation statuses, excluding asylum seekers, refugees and those with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) status.
Immigrant drivers who have worked legally for years say they have been left in limbo. Sarabjeet Singh, a truck driver from India who has worked in central California for 12 years, said he was turned away when he tried to renew his licence last month. His wife, Kavita Patel, described the loss as devastating. 'This not only affected us financially, but this is a huge burden mentally, emotionally, physically,' she said. 'Your entire skill set and experience has been built around driving this big rig.'
US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy defended the rule, claiming licences were 'being issued to dangerous foreign drivers – often times illegally'. He cited five fatal accidents involving immigrant truck drivers, though these represent just 0.31% of all large-truck fatal accidents in the US for the first half of 2025. Critics note that the administration has provided no data to show that foreign commercial licence holders pose a specific safety threat.
The AFL-CIO, the largest federation of labour unions in the US, wrote to Congress in March stating that the DOT's own data indicated immigrant drivers were involved in fatal crashes at a lower rate than other licence holders. The union argued the rule would 'worsen, and not improve, safety'.
Leaders in Democratic-led states such as New York have tried to refuse the DOT's demand to revoke licences from certain drivers, but the DOT has threatened to withhold federal transportation funding. Immigrant drivers say the rule unfairly targets those who entered the country legally, obtained their licences lawfully and have clean driving records.
