Highway and Trucking Safety

Indiana officials will begin revoking commercial driver’s licenses for non‑citizen truckers who cannot provide a valid work visa, with all affected licenses expiring at midnight Wednesday, and will require future non‑citizen CDL applicants to show one of three approved work visas and demonstrate English proficiency. Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith announced the changes Tuesday on social media, tying them to highway safety concerns after fatal crashes involving truck drivers who entered the U.S. illegally or obtained CDLs despite lacking legal work authorization. Beckwith also said employers who "knowingly hire illegal drivers" without a valid CDL will face a $50,000 fine, escalating legal risk for trucking companies that skirt the rules. The move follows Fox‑documented cases in Florida where troopers reported that up to half of truckers at some weigh stations failed existing English requirements and comes amid warnings from Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy about widespread CDL fraud involving illegal immigrants. The policy is already feeding an online fight over whether Indiana is cracking down on a real safety and fraud problem or using isolated tragedies to justify a broader immigration‑enforcement agenda in the trucking industry.