The Trump administration has moved to shut down 270 commercial driver’s license (CDL) training schools, citing widespread fraud and safety failures that officials say have contributed to deadly roadways. The announcement, made Monday by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, targets schools that allegedly allowed migrant truckers who were not proficient in English to obtain commercial licenses.
Speaking at a press conference, Duffy said the action was an emergency executive shutdown of 110 driving schools that account for 5,000 English proficiency violations. He emphasized that federal rules have long required commercial motor vehicle operators to speak English, a standard he said predates the Trump administration.
Two Tiers of Shutdowns
Duffy explained that the first group of 110 schools failed to enforce English proficiency requirements. “You have to speak English to operate a commercial motor vehicle. I didn’t create that rule, President Trump didn’t create that rule. That rule has been in place for decades,” he said.
He added that some CDL schools “know the rule and still pass people through their school who can’t speak the language.”
The administration also shut down an additional 160 schools, which Duffy described as having inadequate training facilities. These schools, he said, “in essence, certify that they are qualified to train truck drivers” but lack the space to allow students to actually get behind the wheel and practice maneuvers like turning around cones. He also noted that some had unlicensed instructors.
239 Deaths Cited
Duffy linked the enforcement action to a sobering statistic: 239 people have died on American roadways in connection with truck drivers who were not proficient in English.
“What we are announcing is an emergency executive shutdown of 110 driving schools,” Duffy said, making clear the urgency of the move.
The Transportation Secretary also criticized the Biden administration for dismantling what he called “long standing safety rules that make sure we get well qualified drivers driving big rigs,” including allowing truck driving schools to “self-certify.”
The joint announcement from the Department of Transportation and the Department of Homeland Security signals a broader crackdown on illegal immigration’s intersection with commercial trucking safety. The officials framed the action as both a public safety measure and an enforcement tool against fraudulent practices in the CDL training industry.
It remains unclear how the affected schools will be able to appeal the shutdowns or what the full scope of the investigations revealed. The administration has not released a full list of the schools closed, nor has it detailed the extent to which deaths were directly tied to drivers from those particular institutions.
The move is likely to reignite debate over border security and commercial driving standards, with supporters praising the action as a long-overdue response to dangerous loopholes, while critics may question the speed of the shutdowns and whether the data fully supports the causal link drawn by officials.
Source: www.breitbart.com — https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2026/08/31/sean-duffy-feds-shut-down-270-truck-driving-schools-after-239-deaths/