OAN Staff Blake Wolf
2:02 PM – Thursday, August 28, 2025
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced that U.S. states that do not comply with English Language Proficiency (ELP) test requirements for commercial drivers will face federal funding cuts. The announcement follows an August 12th incident, when an illegal alien from India caused a crash that killed 3 Americans.
On Tuesday, Duffy emphasized that California, Washington, and New Mexico could risk losing millions in federal funding if they continue failing to enforce English language requirements for truck drivers.
The requirement dates back to 1970, established by the Federal Highway Administration, requiring commercial drivers to “Read and speak the English language sufficiently to converse with the general public, to understand highway traffic signs and signals in the English language, to respond to official inquiries, and to make entries on reports and records.”
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President Donald Trump signed an executive order in April, reaffirming the commitment to enforcing the English proficiency requirement, which was described as a “non-negotiable safety requirement for professional drivers.”
“My administration will enforce the law to protect the safety of American truckers, drivers, passengers, and others, including by upholding the safety enforcement regulations that ensure that anyone behind the wheel of a commercial vehicle is properly qualified and proficient in our national language, English,” the executive order stated.
Duffy explained that enforcement of the language requirement has become a top priority for the Department of Transportation (DOT), particularly following a recent Florida crash caused by 28-year-old Harjinder Singh, an illegal alien whose dash camera recorded him making an illegal U-turn — resulting in the deaths of three Americans in a minivan.
The crash took place on August 12th, roughly 50 miles north of West Palm Beach, in which Singh attempted the illegal U-turn, blocking the road and ultimately leading to the deadly crash.
Three Floridian victims, aged 30, 37, and 54, were wedged underneath the trailer and killed — two at the scene, and one later in a local hospital. The three individuals who tragically lost their lives have been identified as:
Rodrigue Dor, age 54, from Miami
Faniola Joseph, age 37, from Pompano Beach
Herby Dufresne, age 30, from Florida City
Singh has since been charged with three state counts of vehicular homicide and immigration violations, as Governor Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) has vowed that state prosecutors will “throw the book at him” — meaning his punishment will be as severe as legally possible.
“States don’t get to pick and choose which federal safety rules to follow,” Duffy stated. “As we saw with the horrific Florida crash that killed three, when states fail to enforce the law, they put the driving public in danger.”
Duffy also noted that Singh shouldn’t have even been given a commercial driver’s license to begin with, due to his immigration status.
“This is about keeping people safe on the road. Your families, your kids, your spouses, your loved ones, your friends. We all use the roadway, and we need to make sure that those who are driving big rigs – semis – can understand the road signs, that they’ve been well trained,” Duffy continued.
Duffy went on to reveal that states will lose funding from the Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program if they choose not to comply with the language requirement within 30 days. California could potentially lose $33 million, Washington could lose $10.5 million, and New Mexico stands to lose $7 million, he warned.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier later praised the Trump administration for pressuring Democrat-ran states to comply with federal commercial driver laws.
“I applaud President Trump and his administration for taking swift action, as they always do,” Uthmeier stated. “You have this tragic accident at the hands of an illegal alien who should not have ever had this trucker’s license to begin with. You’ve got blue states that apparently are engaging in systematic abuse of the program, not only allowing illegal aliens to get these permits but enabling them to do so when they do not even speak English,” Uthmeier told Newsmax.
Uthmeier also highlighted Florida’s new program that turns truck weigh stations into immigration checkpoints, where drivers are now required to pass English proficiency tests.
“There will be a check to make sure that they A., speak English, B., that they are competent enough to be driving these trucks in the first place… If they got licenses from sanctuary states, that is not valid here … so we will be detaining illegal aliens that are interdicted at these sites,” he continued.
“When another state is violating the law by issuing those driver’s licenses to begin with, we certainly stand on solid ground here in Florida to not accept those licenses. Those are not lawfully valid to begin with,” Uthmeier added. “We are going to keep protecting our citizens, we are going to be looking for legal remedies against sanctuary states like California.”
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