A New Jersey congressman has introduced the latest legislation aimed at denying commercial driver's licenses to immigrants in the U.S. illegally.
Republican Rep. Jeff Van Drew recently introduced the No Commercial Driver's Licenses (CDLs) for Illegals Act, which would stop states from issuing CDLs to illegal immigrants. The bill, which has no companion in the Senate, also allows the secretary of transportation to withhold federal funds from statesthat do not comply with the law's provisions.
"People are dying because sanctuary states are handing out CDLs to illegal immigrants who should not be behind the wheel of tractor-trailers," said Congressman Van Drew. "These trucks can weigh more than 80,000 pounds. They take real training, real skill, and the ability to speak and understand English to drive safely.
"If a driver cannot read road signs or understand warnings from other truckers, everyone on the road is in danger. When states allow this, it does not just hurt the people in their own state. These trucks travel across the country every day, and it is the rest of America that ends up paying the price. If states refuse to follow the rules, then they should lose every dime of federal transportation funding until they comply."
"The law exists to protect our citizens, and too many families have already paid the price for this reckless disregard of it."
The bill also requires the DOT to issue a rule that would fine motor carriers that knowingly employ drivers who don’t hold a valid CDL.
Van Drew's bill requires the secretary of transportation to annually review the states' CDL practices.
This and other legislation come in response to several high-profile collisions of tractor-trailers driven by immigrants in which other motorists died.
It also arrives as the federal government has required states to audit their procedures for issuing CDLs to non-domiciled foreign drivers. The U.S. DOT has also required a halt to issuing non-domiciled CDLs.
