Trump looks to veterans to fill trucking jobs after booting immigrants from industry

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced an initiative Thursday for veterans to quickly obtain commercial driver’s licenses, as the administration attempts to fill vacancies in the industry after pausing license renewals for foreign-born truck drivers.

“The radical left wants more jobs for illegal aliens and more migrants (in) 18-wheelers, and (the) Trump administration wants safer roads and more jobs for the American veteran,” Trump said. 

The policy builds on a program that allows veterans to automatically obtain a  commercial driver’s license if their service included operating heavy vehicles by expanding the waiver from 12 months since military service to 24 months.  

The initiative also creates a fast-track program for veterans without experience. The Veterans Affairs Department will cover the costs of the program, and will launch a campaign to inform veterans of the opportunity. 

“Any veteran with heavy vehicle experience from the military will now be eligible to skip redundant road tests to obtain a commercial driver's license,” Trump said. “If they didn't drive a truck in the military,... they're going to learn, and they're going to learn very quickly and they'll be licensed in a matter of a few weeks.”

As part of Trump’s broad immigration crackdown, his administration has aimed to curtail the number of foreign-born truck drivers, who make up about 18% of truckers nationwide, through several federal regulations. 

A March Department of Transportation rule to limit the types of visas that make someone eligible for a commercial driver's license is expected to push out of the industry about 200,000 immigrant truck drivers, the administration has said.

The rule applied to immigrants with several forms of legal status, including Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, Temporary Protected Status, asylum seekers and refugees. Those who were exempt from the rule included lawful permanent residents and some immigrants with H-2A and E-2 visas.

So far, about 28,000 licenses from foreign-born truck drivers have been canceled, Trump said. 

He added that industry giant Werner Trucking has hired 1,400 veterans as drivers.

Trucker shortage

The industry has a shortage of roughly 60,000 to 80,000 drivers, according to the American Trucking Associations, the industry’s largest national advocacy group. 

“As we get illegal aliens off the roads today, we're also taking action to replace these unqualified migrant truck drivers with highly qualified American veterans,” Trump said.

The president has said, without evidence, that immigrants driving commercial vehicles pose a safety threat and has accused them of not knowing English. 

Trump issued an executive order last year that required truck drivers to be proficient in English, which he said has resulted in 24,000 commercial licenses being removed. And last year, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy threatened to pull federal highway funding from several states for not enforcing the president's executive order that required commercial truck drivers to be proficient in English. 

Growing list of states

Trump said that he hopes more states partake in the waiver program, known as the Even Exchange Program that allows qualified military drivers to be exempt from taking a test to obtain a commercial driver’s license. 

To qualify, a veteran needs a related speciality, including motor transport operator, fueler, equipment operator, or pavement and construction equipment operator.

Dozens of states already participate in the waiver program. Trump announced two more Thursday: Indiana and Wyoming. 

The states already in the program are Illinois, Kansas, Wisconsin, North Carolina, North Dakota, Vermont, Virginia, Missouri, South Carolina, Idaho, Georgia, New Mexico, West Virginia, California, Iowa, Minnesota, Texas, Ohio, Maine, Utah, Washington, Mississippi, Tennessee, Michigan, Montana, South Dakota and Pennsylvania.

Maryland, Louisiana, Arkansas, Florida and Alabama have committed to implementing the program.