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FAIR Exposes How States Gave Foreign Truck Drivers a License to Kill

PR Newswire · 1d ago

Investigation reveals 30+ dead, 128,000 risky CDLs in one state, and tests in foreign languages 

WASHINGTON, Aug. 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) today released a new Investigative Report, License to Kill: Uncovering the Anti-Borders Takeover of the National CDL Program. The report exposes how anti-borders politicians and bureaucrats in multiple states have systematically undermined federal commercial driver's license (CDL) standards. They have converted this critical public-safety credential into a permission slip for foreign nationals (who frequently lack English proficiency, valid immigration status, and basic driving competence) to get behind the wheel—often with deadly consequences.

The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) is a national, nonprofit, public-interest, membership organization of concerned citizens who share a common belief that our nation's immigration policies must be reformed to serve the national interest. Visit FAIR's website at www.fairus.org . (PRNewsFoto/FAIR)

Drawing on targeted research, public-records requests and litigation, and analysis of audited state DMV data, FAIR's investigation documents the scale of the problem:

  • In 2025 alone, at least 17 fatal crashes involving foreign national CDL-holders claimed more than 30 American lives. Among the victims of these accidents is five-year-old Dalilah Coleman of California, who was critically injured and left with lifelong disabilities after an illegal alien's 18-wheeler slammed into her family's vehicle. President Trump highlighted Dalilah's story during his 2026 State of the Union address.



  • California issued more than 128,000 non-domiciled CDLs between 2022 and 2025 (more than doubling annual output), and permitted applicants to take knowledge tests in Arabic, Chinese, Punjabi, Russian, and Spanish. First-attempt pass rates were as low as 22% for Arabic speakers and 26% for Punjabi speakers, compared with 63% for English.



  • Multiple states issued multi-year credentials that extended far beyond the expiration of applicants' lawful presence documents, granted non-domiciled CDLs to ineligible Mexican and Canadian nationals, created "temporary" licenses never reported to the national CDLIS database, and even produced credentials listing "No Given Name."



  • The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) sanctioned California and New York for their noncompliance with federal CDL standards, and withheld hundreds of millions of dollars in federal highway funds from those states. In total, FMCSA scrutinized 25 jurisdictions for noncompliance, and required substantial corrective action.

The report also examines how the Trump administration has begun reclaiming control of the situation. President Trump's April 2025 Executive Order restored English-language proficiency as a basis for placing drivers out of service. FMCSA's March 2026 Final Rule sharply limited non-domiciled eligibility to only certain visa holders, required states to perform SAVE verification of applicants, and capped CDL validity at one year. Funding sanctions and a joint DHS-DOT crackdown on fraudulent training schools are underway. These gains are meaningful but inherently reversible by a future administration or continued state resistance. The report urges Congress to lock in the Trump administration's reclamation efforts through permanent statutory reforms.

"The commercial driver's license was never meant to be a license to kill," said Dale Wilcox, FAIR's executive director and general counsel. "Anti-borders states have broken the federalism bargain that was supposed to guarantee uniform minimum safety standards. The body count of American victims is real and entirely preventable. Congress must pass Dalilah's Law to permanently bar states from issuing CDLs to illegal aliens, mandate English-only testing and proficiency, impose automatic funding penalties, and close every loophole these jurisdictions have exploited."

"Our investigation—powered by public records, litigation against New York's stonewalling, and analysis of FMCSA's own audits—lays bare systemic noncompliance on a massive scale," said Mateo Forero, FAIR's director of investigations. "California's 128,000-plus non-domiciled CDLs and abysmal foreign-language pass rates, the multi-state practice of issuing licenses beyond lawful presence, and the growing list of preventable deaths make clear that temporary executive fixes are not enough. Only permanent statutory reform can restore the integrity of the CDL program and protect every American driver."

To view the full report, click here. 

To schedule an interview with one of FAIR's spokespersons, please contact Hayley Hill at hhill@fairus.org.

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SOURCE Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR)