EXCLUSIVE: Federal transportation officials nabbed hundreds of truckers found not to be proficient in English, as otherwise routine stops at weigh stations led to thousands of violations amid a three-day national crackdown.
The latest iteration of Operation SafeDRIVE (Distracted, Reckless, Impaired, Visibility Enforcement) ran from Jan. 13-15 on trucking corridors in 26 states and the District of Columbia and removed nearly 2,000 unqualified truckers and other drivers from the road, USDOT's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) told Fox News Digital.
The news comes just days after a Kyrgyz national caused a deadly wreck after he failed to brake for stopped traffic on a state road in Jay County, Indiana, crossed the median and slammed into oncoming traffic.
Bekzhan Beishekeev illegally used the Mayorkas-era CBP-1 app to enter the U.S. in 2023 and was later issued a CDL by PennDOT, leading DHS officials to lambast Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who in turn blamed Secretary Kristi Noem's federal database management.
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USDOT Secretary Sean Duffy told Fox News Digital that Operation SafeDRIVE saw the FMCSA partner with state law enforcement in a high-visibility enforcement and education effort, addressing unsafe drivers of all types on the nation's highways.
Operation SafeDRIVE conducted more than 8,200 inspections that led to 704 drivers being taken off the road and out of service.
About 500 of those truckers were penalized for failing English proficiency standards.
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There were 1,231 total vehicles stripped of their roadworthiness and 56 people were arrested, including several for DUI/DWI and illegal presence in the United States.
"Operation SafeDRIVE shows what happens when we work together with our law enforcement partners to pull unqualified drivers and vehicles off American roads," Duffy told Fox News Digital.
"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."
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FMCSA Administrator Derek Barrs added that the operation's main goal was public safety.
"When drivers ignore the rules, operate without proper qualifications, or get behind the wheel impaired, they put all of our lives at risk," Barrs said.
"Operation SafeDRIVE demonstrates the value of focused enforcement and strong partnerships in removing these drivers and vehicles from our roads."
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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.
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Anmol is indicative of the kind of people issued licenses under Albany's widescale noncooperation with federal immigration enforcement.
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"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," she said.
After an Uzbek national wanted in Tashkent on terrorism charges was nabbed in Oklahoma - also wielding a PennDOT driver's license - a similar dynamic ensued between Harrisburg and Washington, with both Shapiro and Noem blaming each other for the problem.
Fox News Digital obtained a letter from Shapiro cabinet officials to Pennsylvania legislative leaders - as Democrats hold the House and Republicans the Senate - rejecting some of the claims about the situation.
The letter, written by PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll, a Luzerne Democrat, and Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt, a Philadelphia Republican, called out "misstatements and ill-informed speculation" from critics. Schmidt and Carroll said the administration's policy is not to allow illegal immigrants to receive licenses.
"All non-citizens who apply for driver's licenses … must provide PennDOT with proof of identity and must have their legal presence in this country verified through the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database," they said, citing the DHS database flagged by Shapiro and PennDOT spokeswoman Alexis Campbell in prior communications with Fox News Digital.
A Noem spokesperson said at the time that the Uzbek illegal immigrant - Akhror Bozorov - had been unwisely issued a work authorization by the Biden administration, but that did not mean Harrisburg should have let him drive a bobtail - with the spokesperson dubbing Shapiro a "sanctuary politician."
The situation first came to prominence after Indian national Harjinder Singh made an illegal U-turn on Florida's Turnpike in St. Lucie County and a sedan slammed into the rig, killing all occupants.
Singh had been given a CDL by California.
