By JOSH FUNK AP Transportation Writer
The Trump administration wants soldiers to consider becoming truck drivers when they leave the military to help replace the tens of thousands of immigrant drivers who lost their licenses in a crackdown this year.
A new campaign launched Friday will promote programs that let veterans who recently drove large military vehicles skip the required skills test for a commercial driver’s license. Other soldiers can attend a commercial driving school during their last six months of active duty. The GI Bill will also pay for 100% of commercial driver’s license training and for some people even pay a housing allowance while they are in school.
The campaign will be part of a broader interagency effort to help veterans find good civilian jobs that the White House plans to announce on Monday.
The Transportation Department began enforcing existing English language requirements for truckers last summer. Concerns about truck driver qualifications then took on more urgency after an August crash in Florida, when a truck driver performed an illegal U-turn that killed three people. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that driver, who is from India, should never have been licensed in the first place.
Audits conducted in every state uncovered numerous non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses that remained valid long after an immigrant’s work permits had expired or were issued without properly verifying their citizenship status.
Since then, about 26,000 drivers have been pulled off the road for failing to demonstrate English proficiency, and the Transportation Department said 30,000 commercial licenses were canceled because they were issued illegally. The federal government has tried to withhold millions of dollars of highway funds from California and New York for failing to comply and revoke thousands more licenses, but that has wound up in court. Several other states — including Pennsylvania, Minnesota and North Carolina — have been warned they are at risk of losing funding.
“We are removing more and more dangerous foreign drivers off our roads every day and restoring the integrity of America’s trucking industry,” Duffy said. “Our new Freedom Haulers campaign will help build on these successes and get the word out that there’s never been a better time for America’s former service members to get behind the wheel of a big rig.”
The federal government has been actively enforcing CDL rules
The trucking industry has applauded the administration’s effort to get unqualified drivers off the road and close down sham CDL schools, and companies praised this new effort to get more veterans behind the wheel.
“Veterans make up 15% of our workforce and bring the highest levels of leadership, discipline and technical skills that are essential to our success. We are dedicated to providing them with meaningful careers and a supportive environment where they can thrive,” said Derek Leathers, who is chairman and CEO of Werner Enterprises.
Cole Stevens, who is chief strategy officer at the trucking company that bears his last name, said veterans’ backgrounds make them great drivers.
“Some of the best drivers and industry leaders I’ve had the privilege of working with are military veterans,” Stevens said. “Their integrity, accountability, and mission-first mindset make them an incredible asset.”
In addition to enforcing existing restrictions, the government announced plans to restrict which immigrants can qualify for a non-domiciled commercial driver’s license and require them to take the test in English, but those rules are being challenged in court.
The only immigrant drivers who can get a license under the new rules are holders of an H-2A, H-2A or E-2 visa. H-2A is for temporary agricultural workers while H-2B is for temporary nonagricultural workers, and E-2 is for people who make substantial investments in a U.S. business.
Immigrants account for about 20% of all truck drivers, but all of these non-domiciled licenses for immigrants represent only about 5% of all commercial driver’s licenses, or about 200,000 drivers.
Some immigrant groups have said they believe that many drivers are being unfairly targeted. The spotlight has been on Sikh truckers because the driver in the Florida crash and the driver in another fatal crash in California in October are both Sikh.
Truck driving may appeal to veterans
The Transportation Department plans to work with the Pentagon and Departments of Veterans Affairs and Labor to promote the career field as a good job that offers independence to veterans who don’t want a desk job in civilian life.
Veterans still have to study the rules and pass the written test for a commercial driver’s license, but soldiers who recently drove big military vehicles over 2.5 tons (2.25 metric tons) can skip the skills test. The government said more than 40,000 veterans have already used that program, which can enable them to get on the road within a few weeks.
The Transportation Department said that truck drivers currently make an average of $70,000 a year, as the truck market has tightened up and rates have increased.
Veterans who served for at least three years can also use the money from the GI Bill program to pay for CDL training, and they might even qualify for a housing stipend.