Following the tragic and completely preventable death of four Amish citizens earlier this year, Indiana took significant steps to protect its roadways from unsafe migrant truckers. But without similar action from blue states that are handing out licenses to unqualified drivers, can anyone really feel safe?
Earlier this month, the Hoosier State revoked nearly 1,800 commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) from non-citizens following passage of Indiana House Enrolled Act (HEA) 1200, which passed last month and took effect on April 1.
HEA 1200 was introduced in response to a tragic crash in the state in early February that caused the deaths of four Amish construction workers. (While most Amish themselves do not drive cars, the victims appear to have hired a driver to bring them home from a work site.) Police say that 30-year-old Kyrgyzstani national Bekzhan Beishekeev, a Pennsylvania-based driver, caused “a head-on crash” as AMAC Newsline previously reported.
Beishekeev allegedly “didn’t stop for another slowed semi-truck, swerving instead into oncoming traffic and crashing head-on into a van,” Fox News reporter Bill Melugin said at the time.
Beishekeev, who is now facing four counts of reckless homicide and three counts of criminal recklessness, entered the country thanks to Joe Biden’s open borders policies. Beishekeev ended up in Pennsylvania, where Democrat Governor Josh Shapiro’s administration granted him a CDL despite clearly not being skilled or safe enough to drive big rigs on public roadways.
While Shapiro quickly rushed to shift blame on the Trump administration, Indiana Republicans took action by passing HEA 1200 to protect drivers from the likes of Beishekeev and other individuals who do not speak English and do not meet federal qualifications to drive semis.
As a result of the new law, 1,790 truckers without proper paperwork had their CDL privileges revoked on April 15, according to the IndyStar. The drivers were notified that they would be losing their licenses on March 16.
While “non-domiciled CDLs” can go to non-citizen legal residents who have specific visas, they have also been obtained by illegal aliens and drivers who do not meet English language proficiency requirements, in violation of federal regulations. Recent high-profile crashes have drawn national attention to the safety hazard of allowing unqualified migrants behind the wheel.
“Moving forward, all future non-citizen CDL applications will need one of three approved work visas while also requiring the driver to demonstrate proficiency in English,” Lieutenant Governor Micah Beckwith announced. “In addition, any employers who knowingly hire illegal drivers without a valid CDL will face a $50,000 fine.”
The law ensures truck drivers “are the best and properly trained that we can get,” State Rep. Jim Pressel told WTHR.
Industry leaders also praised the law for ensuring only qualified individuals are driving trucks.
The Indiana Motor Truck Association said a lack of government oversight “allowed CDLs to be given to drivers who have been found to be in the United States illegally” and “have not been properly trained, and are operating commercial vehicles unsafely.”
The group’s president, Gary Langston, said the bill “is an important step toward removing unsafe drivers and making our nation’s highways safer for all motorists.”
The law is a positive first step, but Indiana leaders can only do so much. In the case that spurred passage of HEA 1200 in the first place, the driver responsible for the deadly crash received his license from Pennsylvania.
A similar pattern played out in Florida, where an Indian illegal alien caused a deadly crash in the Sunshine State after making an illegal U-turn on a highway. That driver, Harjinder Singh, obtained a CDL in both Washington and California despite having failed basic competency exams. As AMAC Newsline previously reported, he answered only two of 12 questions correctly on an English language test and identified just one of four traffic signs.
Thankfully, President Trump is cracking down on states that illegally issue CDLs. Last October, the Department of Homeland Security took 145 illegal truckers off the roads in Indiana alone.
Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy has also audited states and threatened to revoke lucrative federal highway funding unless they come into compliance.
“I need our state partners to understand that they work for the American people, not illegal immigrants who broke the law by illegally entering our country and continue to break it by operating massive big rigs without the proper qualifications,” Duffy said in February.
Americans should feel safe driving on highways and roads that their taxes pay for. They should not have to live in fear that an illegal alien who speaks no English and doesn’t know the rules of the road is barreling toward their family in a semi-truck.
But the reality of living in a country with free movement between states is that the failures of one state government can have deadly consequences in every other state. Pennsylvania’s negligence becomes Indiana’s tragedy. Without a commitment from every state to enforce federal laws and regulations, every American driver will always be forced to keep a closer eye on their rearview mirror.
AMAC Newsline contributor Matt Lamb is an associate editor for The College Fix. He previously worked for Students for Life of America, Students for Life Action, and Turning Point USA. He previously interned for Open the Books. His writing has also appeared in the Washington Examiner, The Federalist, LifeSiteNews, Human Life Review, Headline USA, and other outlets. The opinions expressed are his own. Follow him @mattlamb22 on X.
Who is issuing those licenses, will they be charged as culprits in all the mishaps , are they still in charge of licensing ,where is their responsibility , how is that different from allowing a GP to perform a surgery.
On a recent road trip from Dallas to San Antonio, TX I saw MANY 18-wheelers driving in the left lane, despite frequent signs posted across the highway saying “No Trucks in Left Lane”. I saw so many that I started counting. I tallied 27 trucks in the left lane where those signs existed over a short potion of the trip. I quit counting because it seemed so futile. Why doesn’t the state police department stop those drivers? So frustrating!
One would think the Commerce Clause in the Constitution, which is one of the enumerated powers, would cover this in all states.
i believe Texas is STILL offering the driver’s license test in Spanish. I consider this part of the problem.
TERM LIMITS FOR ALL.
The Red States need to enforce the scales at the state lines! Making all trucks be inspected, weighing and inspecting all drivers, driver license and loads! Should there be any violations or illegal immigrates, the state should seize the truck at which time the driver should be deported immediately! The trucking company then should be immediately notified of the location of their truck and its belongings, the fines that are owed to the red state for using illegal immigrates to drive their truck! If they don’t pay the fine you sell the vehicle and contents! It is time that everyone answers for what is going on, this is America and we have laws against what the Democratic Party did with open borders and the treasonous acts to our country!
Not as long as there are unqualified migrant workers and folks willing to hire them ’cause they work cheap…’tis a shame.
The Democrats who run the blue states do not care about the law. They just steam-roll ahead and do whatever they want. Look at the redistricting case in VA. The idiots in that state passed it and it could lead to the GOP only getting one seat from VA!! I was so pleased to see that it has been put on hold because the bill was totally against the VA state constitution!!! Until the radical liberals start being punished for the crap they pull, they will keep it up. They are nothing but criminals when it comes to getting power to destroy our country. The GOP in DC needs to buck up and fight fire with fire!!
Yes deny acess & force into Blue States., then see changes come
I have seen several articles regarding the illegal CDLs. Some of them showed pictures of the licenses and they were REAL ID licenses, This allows the problem to go beyond just our highways, This needs to be reined in.
The families and relatives of the victims of these unqualified truckers should be able to sue the Governors of the states that gave the perpetrator / illegal truckers licenses. The states should also sue for the services they had to perform during and after the accident and the cost of incarceration and juris due to the accident. Also the cost of troopers stopping a checking truckers and impounding the trucks, etc.
It should not be considered a form of discrimination to require a certain NECESSITY skill like the ability to understand and read signage regardless of your preferred native birth language. Driving safely on any given road requires one to read and understand signage, and there’s more skill to driving a vehicle than knowing how to turn on the engine motor with the key and putting your foot down on the gas pedal and moving.
The problem is much bigger than is recognized and it’s not just unqualified migrant drivers. There are a lot of shadow trucking companies that employ these drivers, companies that have no permanent physical address and change names as soon as they hit trouble of any kind.
Requiring all trucks to stop at weigh stations to have their license checked would stop most of this! If they can’t understand questions, give them an English proficiency exam right there. If they fail, park the truck!
UNTIL something tragic happens to some politician or ‘elite’ person or, to someone that matters to them the most, I have little faith in any real action that could be taken at a national level. If you’re just an average joe/Jane that gets maimed or killed, you’re just collateral damage. There’s nothing to see here, folks… The reality is that politicians really don’t care.
Not only are these illegal drivers getting licenses,They also allow these people to buy trucks with interest free loans and not pay taxes on the money they earn with the same way foreigners are buying up all the mom and pop grocery stores . They pay reduced wages allowing them cut freight rates putting American trucking companies out of business. In California they haul the majority of the freight ot of the the ports. And the American tax payers are paying for it. The Muslim drivers cut holes in the floorboards of their trucks and use the bathroom. I see a lot that can’t speak English. When Biden left office he and
Buttigieg had approved 66,000 more of these drivers to come to the US
I was a truck driver for 40 years and trying to find some of the places I had to deliver and pick up were hard to find.So how does a truck driver that can’t read English going to find a place.They are in our country the wrong way they need to leave and do it the right way.The democrats are destroying our country.Come lord Jesus
In California these Illegals are driving School busses too,and probably other states as well.
So Biden let them in and the TransportationSecretary Buttgeeg or whatever his name is failed at his job once again.And this Deviant deviant is thinking of running for POTUS!!!! UNBELIEVABLE
Enough of that “Migrant” crap! Call them what they ARE,* Illegal Aliens!*