Washington: A US senator has introduced legislation in Congress that would bar states from issuing commercial driver’s licences to illegal immigrants, tying federal transport funding to compliance and citing a series of fatal crashes involving heavy trucks.
Republican Senator Jim Banks said his proposed “Dalilah Law” would require states to take specific steps to remove “illegal alien truck drivers” from America’s roads as a condition of receiving funding from the Department of Transportation.
A day earlier, at the State of the Union address, President Donald Trump called on lawmakers to pass legislation “called ‘the Dalilah Law’ barring any state from granting commercial driver’s licenses to illegal aliens.”
Banks said the measure was driven by the mounting number of fatalities.
“Too many people have been hurt. Too many have been killed. Americans are paying the price because illegal drivers are being handed commercial driver’s licenses like candy and put behind the wheel of 80,000-pound trucks. That stops now. The Dalilah Law makes it clear: if you are here illegally, you do not get a CDL. We need to act, and we need to act now,” he said.
Under the bill, states would have to limit trucking licences to United States citizens, lawful permanent residents, and certain work visa holders. They would also be required to revoke trucking licences issued to “illegal aliens and aliens with temporary status, whether or not such persons have work authorisation.”
The proposal further mandates that CDL knowledge and skill tests be offered in English only.
Earlier this week, Banks wrote to Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Administrator Derek D. Barrs seeking an immediate investigation into potential “chameleon carrier” trucking networks operating in Indiana.
“I urge you to investigate potential chameleon carrier trucking networks operating in Indiana,” he wrote in a February 23 letter.
The letter cited the death of Terry Schultz, who “died after being struck by a semitruck driven by an Indian national who reportedly crossed the southern border illegally and received trucking licenses from New York and Indiana.”
“Seven Hoosiers have been killed in six months by illegal alien truck drivers. This is a national crisis,” Banks wrote.
The legislation is named after Dalilah Coleman, a first-grader who was severely injured in a six-car pile-up caused by “an illegal alien driving a semitruck with a CDL.” According to the press release, the driver “crossed the border in 2022 and was released into the country by the Biden administration.”
The statement also referred to a June 20, 2024, crash in California involving “Partap Singh — an illegal alien from India,” who was issued a commercial driver’s licence by the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles.
Other incidents cited include a fatal crash in Indiana involving an Indian national, a Georgian national granted a CDL by New York State, and a driver from Serbia and Montenegro who had owned two trucking companies despite being in the United States illegally since 2011.
Individual states issue commercial driver’s licences, though federal rules govern interstate trucking. Immigration status and eligibility for licences remain politically charged issues in the United States.
(IANS)
