What some truckers believed were going to be routine stops at weigh stations in January led instead to thousands of violations and failed English tests amid a three-day national crackdown by federal safety authorities.
The latest version of Operation SafeDRIVE (Distracted, Reckless, Impaired, Visibility Enforcement) from January 13th through the 15th on trucking corridors in 26 states and the District of Columbia removed nearly 2,000 unqualified truckers and other drivers from the road, the U.S. Department of Transportation, (USDOT) told Fox News Digital.
The operation conducted more than 8,200 inspections that led to 704 drivers being taken off the road and out of service, with some 500 of those truckers being penalized for failing English proficiency standards.
Furthermore, a total of some 1200 vehicles were stripped of their roadworthiness and 56 people were arrested, including several for driving while intoxicated and being in the country illegally.
The operation was conducted in partnership with state law enforcement.
USDOT Secretary Sean Duffy told Fox News Digital:
Operation SafeDRIVE shows what happens when we work together with our law enforcement partners to pull unqualified drivers and vehicles off American roads. We need a whole-of-government approach to ensure the Trump administration’s strong standards of safety are in place to protect American families and reduce road accidents.
The effort follows on the heels of news reports of commercial licenses being issued to illegal aliens as well as those with limited English ability.
The controversy dramatically found its way into the cable news cycle after an Indian national named Harjinder Singh allegedly made an illegal U-turn last August on Florida’s Turnpike in St. Lucie County resulting in the crash of a sedan, killing all three of its occupants.
Singh, an illegal alien who was licensed in California, faces three counts of vehicular homicide.
As Breitbart News reported, California has been blamed as the number one hub for illegal commercial driver licensing, with federal regulators blasting Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) administration for the practice.
News of the January weigh station crackdown comes after a February 3 crash in Indiana that killed four innocent people, after which Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested an illegal alien semi-truck driver with a Pennsylvania-issued commercial license.
Bekzhan Beishekeev, a 30-year-old national of Kyrgyzstan, illegally came to the United States using the Biden administration’s controversial Customs Border Patrol One app, according to Homeland Security officials.
The app is one of the methods blamed for the onslaught of illegal immigration into the U.S. under the former president.
According to a department statement:
On Feb. 3, at approximately 4 p.m., Beishekeev was traveling eastbound on Indiana’s State Route 67 when he allegedly failed to brake for a slowed semi-truck in front of him. Police say he swerved into the westbound lane and slammed into a van carrying up to 15 passengers. Four people were killed in the crash.
New York has also come under scrutiny for sloppy license procedures and failing to cooperate with immigration authorities.
According to Fox News:
In other recent cases of illegally-present or English-nonproficient drivers causing deadly or dangerous situations, an Indian national was arrested after passing through a weigh station in Oklahoma and found to be illegally present in the country.
His commercial driver’s license, issued by New York State, listed him as “NO NAME.” His identity was later confirmed to be Anmol Anmol, and he had illegally entered the U.S. in 2023 and was handed over to federal authorities under Oklahoma’s 287(g) cooperation agreement with I.C.E.
Said DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, “New York is not only failing to check if applicants applying to drive 18-wheelers are U.S. citizens but even failing to obtain the full legal names of individuals they are issuing commercial drivers’ licenses to.”
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the author of the New York Times true crime best seller House of Secrets and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more