Commercial truck drivers for whom English is a second language are galvanizing, amassing nearly 5,000 signatures on a petition opposing President Donald Trump’s recent executive order allowing highway inspectors to remove them from the roads.
Change.org alerted Cowboy State Daily of the petition in a Thursday email.
Written in English and Spanish, the petition says Trump’s order will shift English proficiency assessments to highway inspectors, yielding “subjective” enforcement of hard-working truckers who may merely have strong accents.
“This sudden shift risks forcing thousands of truckers out of work, causing irreversible harm to hard-working families who rely on this profession,” says the petition, for whose author Change.org said it could not provide contact information.
The petition goes on to “demand” a reasonable extension of Trump’s 60-day deadline, “objective and consistent enforcement criteria — not subjective discretion,” free language training programs for commercial drivers who need help and less-restrictive legislation “to protect truckers.”
“The government, when it needed us, gave us the name of heroes after the tragedy of COVID-19,” says an attached narrative by petition-signer Orlando Alain. “And today it turns its back on us. … The same government and the same Americans denigrate us and put our families at risk without hesitation.”
As of Friday afternoon, the petition had amassed 4,746 verified signatures, says Change.org’s count.
Used To Be The Rule
As Wyoming’s lone member of the U.S. House, Harriet Hageman said Trump’s order is important considering all the truck traffic that moves through the state.
“I have a nephew who has a couple of trucks, and he’s the one who contacted me, and he said, ‘Harriet, we’re seeing a dramatic increase in accidents involving non-English-speaking truck drivers, especially across Nebraska,’” she said Friday on the Cowboy State Daily radio show with Jake Nichols.
She said that makes sense, because that’s “when they first start hitting ice and snow.”
Prompted by that, Hageman said she investigated the issue and learned that there had been a rule previously requiring English proficiency for truck drivers. But, it had been tabled by the Obama administration.
“I started digging into it and found that there was a rule that requires English language proficiency,” she said. “You don’t have to be fluent in it, but you have to be able to read the signs across I-80 that says, ‘Black ice ahead.’”
After the requirement was lifted, “then all of the sudden you see a dramatic increase in accidents across highways like I-80,” Hageman said.
That 'Underscores' It
American Truckers United was among the most vocal groups urging Trump to remove non-English-proficient truckers from the road.
The group advocates for fairer treatment for American truckers and has raised public awareness of rising trucking fatalities correlating with loose enforcement of non-English-speaking truckers starting in 2016.
It voiced strong support for Trump’s order in a Friday email to Cowboy State Daily.
“(Trump’s) action directly responds to the urgent requests of the American truck driver community and the motoring public, all of whom are U.S. citizens seeking safer roads and better working conditions,” says the group’s email. “The provision of this petition in another language underscores the source of the opposition.”
The group pointed to the preexisting federal rule against non-English proficiency in truckers, which predates a 2016 memorandum that eroded its enforcement.
“The executive order simply enforces existing law, prioritizing safety over convenience,” it wrote. “We commend the president for hearing our voices and acting decisively.
“Some law enforcement agencies have already begun enforcement, and we urge all relevant agencies to implement this standard as soon as possible to protect our highways and the livelihoods of American truck drivers.”
Wyoming?
American Truckers United on Thursday posted an image on X, formerly known as Twitter, which it said depicts a non-citizen truck driver who couldn’t read road signs being put out of service, as authorities towed away the driver’s equipment at the Wyoming port of entry.
The Wyoming Highway Patrol did not respond Friday to a voicemail request for confirmation of the post’s authenticity.
ATU as of Friday did not provide Cowboy State Daily contact information for the person who shot the photograph.
In an earlier interview with Cowboy State Daily, the Wyoming Highway Patrol vowed to follow Trump’s directive but declined to opine on it.
Nine-Year Saga
President Barack Obama’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) in 2016 issued a memorandum forbidding highway inspectors from removing non-English-speaking commercial truck drivers from the roads.
The memorandum ran contrary to federal rules that were in already in place, which require commercial truck drivers to have enough English proficiency to read road signs, converse with the general public and keep their logs.
Trump’s April 28 executive order directs the secretary of transportation, through the FMCSA, to rescind that memorandum within 60 days of its issuance and take “all necessary and appropriate actions, consistent with applicable law,” to ensure that non-English proficiency takes commercial truck drivers out of service.
The order also tells Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy and the FMCSA to review non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) issued by state agencies, and identify any unusual patterns, numbers or irregularities among them. Then the agency is to work toward verifying the authenticity of both domestic and international commercial driving credentials.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
