White House Wants Veterans to Replace Immigrant Truckers Who Lost Their Licenses in Crackdown

Military.com ^ | Jul 24, 2026, 1:24 PM EDT | Josh Funk

[E. Pluribus Unum]

A new campaign will promote programs that let veterans skip the required skills test for a commercial driver's license.

The Trump administration wants soldiers to consider becoming truck drivers when they leave the military to help replace the tens of thousands of immigrant drivers who lost their licenses in a crackdown this year.

The campaign will be part of a broader interagency effort to help veterans find good civilian jobs that the White House plans to announce on Monday.

The Transportation Department began enforcing existing English language requirements for truckers last summer. Concerns about truck driver qualifications then took on more urgency after an August crash in Florida, when a truck driver performed an illegal U-turn that killed three people. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that driver, who is from India, should never have been licensed in the first place.

Audits conducted in every state uncovered numerous non-domiciled commercial driver's licenses that remained valid long after an immigrant's work permits had expired or were issued without properly verifying their citizenship status.

Since then, about 26,000 drivers have been pulled off the road for failing to demonstrate English proficiency, and the Transportation Department said 30,000 commercial licenses were canceled because they were issued illegally. The federal government has tried to withhold millions of dollars of highway funds from California and New York for failing to comply and revoke thousands more licenses, but that has wound up in court. Several other states — including Pennsylvania, Minnesota and North Carolina — have been warned they are at risk of losing funding.

[redinIllinois]

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[GOPJ]

BASED UPON THEIR DRIVING LARGE MILITARY TRUCKS.

If that's the case - and I hope it is - they won't have a problem passing a test for a commercial driver's license. They need to take the test...

[lastchance]

“Veterans still have to study the rules and pass the written test for a commercial driver’s license, but soldiers who recently drove big military vehicles over 2.5 tons (2.25 metric tons) can skip the skills test.”

The rest of the story.

[HKMk23]

C’mon... you’ve been around this block enough times you should know the drill stone cold: almost nobody reads the article. Probably fewer now than in times past, truth be known.

So it’s kinda critical to include the salient points in the original post where they’ll be seen.

I know about military training, and how often it DOESN’T translate into civilian-side Certification for the same skills, so I went on purpose to the article LOOKING for the missing link. And I found just what I expected that I would, but several others didn’t have the same instinct, and the fact the info wasn’t there to begin with has now spawned posts bashing the move on the basis of the misconception that any well-worn boot is going to be hoiked up into the driver’s seat if they want to be.

For the want of a nail...

[faithhopecharity]

fine!
but there’s still SOME training to learn the controls and how to use them safely, also some emergency procedures

so even if it can all be mastered in a short time, fine fine, I just hope that the new drivers will get this training.

truck driving has been a great way for (mostly) guys to earn honest livings. for a long time. But “we don’t need a weatherman to tell which way the wind’s blowing...

here is a reason why I would not choose truck driving TODAY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzPSWtI20e8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGvvO9vcrZk

[Jeff Chandler]

I have a hard enough time backing up my boat trailer, and that's nothing compared to backing up a big rig

Actually, boat trailers can be quite difficult due to their short length. With a little practice, backing up a 53-footer is child's play.

[Jeff Chandler]

drove big military vehicles over 2.5 tons

2.5 tons would be straight truck. I assume they won't be out on the highway without experience on semis.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

C’mon... you’ve been around this block enough times you should know the drill stone cold: almost nobody reads the article. Probably fewer now than in times past, truth be known. So it’s kinda critical to include the salient points in the original post where they’ll be seen. I know about military training, and how often it DOESN’T translate into civilian-side Certification for the same skills, so I went on purpose to the article LOOKING for the missing link. And I found just what I expected that I would, but several others didn’t have the same instinct, and the fact the info wasn’t there to begin with has now spawned posts bashing the move on the basis of the misconception that any well-worn boot is going to be hoiked up into the driver’s seat if they want to be. For the want of a nail...

I posted the standard 300 word excerpt.

Nowhere in the excerpt does it say they are going to dispense with training and licensing.

Take your mindless Karening elsewhere.

[Newbomb Turk]

Therei s a lot left out of this story. Applicants would have to have held a military drivers license for a vehicle as big as the application they are applying for. Semi for class A, smaller straight truck, Class B ectera.

All the required written test would still need to be taken and passed just like a normal DOT CDL test.

I was a certified military drivers trainer back in the Army. This used to be standard stuff. Your Commander could sign off that you were ok to drive a civilian 18 wheeler which only got you out of the driving portion of the test.

Not many truck owners are going to stake their money on letting you drive their rig until you demonstrate you are capible and safe to do so.

If you can drive a M1070 HET that hauls a 70 ton M1 tank, pretty sure you can drive a big rig.

[lee martell]

Typically, less than two months. Less than two months to learn skills that can provide for a decent and steady income for the rest of one’s working lifetime. Not to mention, all the fringe benefits of med and dental coverage, once the entry period has passed.

[Responsibility2nd]

Apparently you have an objection to me posting the very first sentence in this article.

Take it up with the author.

Then you have the nerve to bring up info not covered in the excerpt and demand I read the article?

Are you some kind of nut? FReepers don’t do that.

Come on, man.

[TexasGator]

Read the article.

[Responsibility2nd]

I linked the entire article, Poindexter.

_______________________________

You linked the article, but you deliberately omitted the second paragraph. Why?

[E. Pluribus Unum]

I didn’t do it on purpose. It was an accident.

Please forgive me. I know how important you are.

[hoosierham]

Backing farm wagons is more fun especially if backing one loaded wagon up to a second one .
No mirrors,cannot see the other wagon tongue...
You either learn to judge distance and steering really well or spend lots of time getting off tractor to check.
When younger I learned.
But never drove semi tructrucks.

[Responsibility2nd]

Well I read the article. It’s the second paragraph in the article. But it’s not the second paragraph in the excerpt.

And what I haven’t yet read is why E Pluribus felt the need to hide this paragraph info from us. Does he get his jollies creating confusion?

He went to great pains to omit the second paragraph from his excerpt and he claims it was an accident? Normally I blame posts with bad excerpts on sloppy lazy FReepers. But what EPU did is worse than that.

I should like to give EPU a refresher course on how to post articles here at FR. But I won’t waste my time.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

You should have me banned. If you don’t have me banned, you are a coward. You have proved that I commited a capital offense.

OFF WITH MY HEAD!!!

[ridesthemiles]

I HAVE BEEN TOWING HORSE TRAILERS SINCE 1985.

I HAD ONE PERSON SOLVE “HOW TO” IN A VERY SHORT LESSON.

IT HELPS IF THERE IS A PERSON BEHIND YOU GIVING YOU SOME DIRECTION FOR AREAS YOU CANNOT SEE IN YOUR MIRRORS:

THAT PERSON MUST BE GIVING YOU INDICATIONS OF “WHERE THE REAR OF THE TRAILER” NEEDS TO GO. ONLY THAT DIRECTION-———NOTHING ELSE.

DO EVERYTHING SLOWLY-—NOTHING SUDDEN OR SHARP:

IF YOU ARE RIGHT HANDED: SIT ON YOUR LEFT HAND AND KEEP IT AWAY FROM THE STEERING WHEEL————

PUT YOUR RIGHT HAND AT THE BOTTOM CENTER OF THE STEERING WHEEL. RELAX.

IF YOU WANT THE REAR OF THE TRAILER TO GO RIGHT-—SLOWLY—SLOWLY TURN THE STEERING WHEEL TO THE RIGHT......FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE STEERING WHEEL.

IF YOU WANT THE REAR OF THE TRAILER TO GO LEFT——SLOWLY—SLOWLY TURN THE BOTTOM OF THE STEERING WHEEL TO THE LEFT.

THIS IS FOOL PROOF.

HAVE TOWED HORSES OVER 200,000 MILES BETWEEN 1985 & 2010. NO PROBLEMS. SLOWLY-—NEVER QUICKLY.

YOU HAVE THE LARGER RIG & YOU CAN GET IT WHERE YOU WANT IT WITH NO ISSUES IF YOU KEEP YOUR COOL.

[Responsibility2nd]

You should have me banned. If you don’t have me banned, you are a coward. You have proved that I commited a capital offense.

___________________________________

I won’t waste my time on efforts to ban you either. Just write a 1,000 word angry opus and I’ll be satisfied.

Just be sure to give me the credit for your leaving!

(lol)

[E. Pluribus Unum]

I had trouble copy-and-pasting the HTML to print correctly, so I resorted to copy-pasting one paragraph at time, and I must have missed the second paragraph.

The fact that you acted like a little girl about it says a lot more about you than it does me.