{"id":310417,"date":"2026-07-31T03:20:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T03:20:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/310417\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T03:20:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T03:20:14","slug":"trump-gives-veterans-priority-pass-for-trucking-jobs-after-new-york-and-california-busted-for-illegal-immigrants-on-the-road","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/310417\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump gives veterans priority pass for trucking jobs after New York and California busted for illegal immigrants on the road"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2013 President Trump on Thursday unveiled a plan to give military veterans a priority on trucking jobs, cutting out illegal immigrants who \u201ccannot read\u201d road signs.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to make it as easy as possible for the veterans,\u201d Trump said at an event at the White House.<\/p>\n

Flanked by two massive truck cabs, one a military green and the other blue with a large American eagle painted on it, the president praised veterans for having \u201ca talent\u201d for truck driving while blasting states that gave commercial driving licenses to illegal immigrants.<\/p>\n

President Trump blasted states that gave commercial drivers licenses to illegal migrants Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cRadical left maniacs at the state level have issued them commercial driver\u2019s licenses, even though they\u2019re not entitled to have them,\u201d the president said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t speak English. They cannot read basic road signs. In many cases, they\u2019ve engaged in reckless driving that has caused many, many preventable deaths,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to stop it. It\u2019s dangerous what\u2019s happening,\u201d he said, noting American highways were being \u201cterrorized by unqualified illegal aliens, dangerously driving big rigs.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2025, at least 30 deaths resulted from 17 fatal crashes<\/a> caused by illegal immigrant commercial vehicle drivers, according to the Department of Transportation.<\/p>\n

Under the new program, the DoT will expand the eligibility for veterans to receive expedited commercial driver\u2019s licenses (CDLs), extending the waiver period from 12 months to 24 months.<\/p>\n

For veterans who never drove a heavy commercial vehicle during their military service, CDL training will be offered.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration is making it easier for veterans to become truck drivers REUTERS<\/p>\n

There will also be a recruitment campaign with digital ads, radio ads, and a website listing federal and private resources.<\/p>\n

The Freedom Haulers program comes after more than 24,000 CDLs were removed from the nation\u2019s highways as part of a DoT crackdown.\u00a0<\/p>\n

California and New York were found to have issued CDL<\/a>s to thousands of migrant drivers. But the states argued those drivers had authorization to work in the US at the time the licenses were issued. <\/p>\n

President Trump announced the new veterans initiative at the White House REUTERS<\/p>\n

However, New York, in December, was stripped of nearly $74 million in federal highway funding<\/a> after\u00a0refusing a federal order to revoke 33,000 CDLs issued to immigrant truck drivers.<\/p>\n

State Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit against the federal government to try and recoup the funds.<\/p>\n

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However, the state made some concessions. In February, New York leaders announced it will no longer give<\/a> commercial driver\u2019s licenses to non-citizens following an order from the Trump administration tightening restrictions.<\/p>\n

The federal government also found California issued approximately 17,000 to 20,000 commercial licenses with expiration dates that extended past the drivers\u2019 legal stay or work authorization periods.<\/p>\n

Veterans joined President Trump for the event REUTERS<\/p>\n

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy threatened to withhold $160 million in federal highway funding the state. Ultimately, California\u2019s Department of Motor Vehicles canceled the licenses of nearly 13,000 immigrant truck drivers.<\/p>\n

Both states face shortages of truck drivers as the government cracks down on requirements to receive a commercial license, including requiring the test to be taken in English and preventing refugees, asylum seekers, and those with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals from holding commercial trucking licenses.<\/p>\n

Shortages of truck drivers could result in higher shipping costs and delays in deliveries.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Duffy blamed the problem of illegal drivers on the Biden administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Biden let in millions of illegals into this country, and he thought it would be a good idea that when they come in, they get a job, and they get a job driving a commercial motor vehicle,\u201d he said at the White House event.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey didn\u2019t have the training, they didn\u2019t have the skill. We didn\u2019t do background checks in the last administration, so they could have had a mile-long rap sheet of crime or drunk driving or speeding violations.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON \u2013 President Trump on Thursday unveiled a plan to give military veterans a priority on trucking jobs,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":310418,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[153,3410,9,24,55,54,56,20857,58],"class_list":["post-310417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-donald-trump","tag-illegal-immigrants","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny","tag-truckers","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310417\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/310418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}