U.S. government threatens funding cuts for 3 states over trucker English rules
發佈日期: 2025-08-27 23:52
TVB News
The U.S. Department of Transportation has threatened to withhold federal funding from three Democratic-led states unless they adopt English proficiency requirements for truck drivers.
The Trump administration is acting on the heels of a car crash in Florida on August 12th, in which a foreign truck driver was accused of making an illegal U-turn on a highway that killed three people.
The issuance of all worker visas for foreign truck drivers was immediately paused.
U.S. President Donald Trump earlier penned an executive order that requires all commercial truck drivers operating in the United States to be proficient in English, which was designated as the country's official language by Trump in a separate order.
On Tuesday, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy told reporters the department was reviewing how states were implementing the rules.
Truckers are supposed to be disqualified if they can't pass the English tests, but Duffy said California, Washington State and New Mexico have hardly done that.
Duffy said: "We've identified several states that have not been in compliance. That would be Washington, California and New Mexico."
According to Duffy, these states will have 30 days to respond and come into compliance, or else lose federal funding from the Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program.
Statistics show the three states received funding that amounted to 460 million U.S. dollars in 2023 used for highway patrols and enhancing road safety.
Duffy threatened the federal government will withhold the money and then take additional steps to guarantee compliance, stressing this is a safety issue, not a political one.
He said: "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 and that when they're pulled over by law enforcement or stopped by law enforcement or there's a crash and law enforcement responds, they can effectively communicate what they have on their rig."
Meanwhile, August's fatal accident revs up political rivalry between the governors of Florida and California over immigration.
Florida officials asserted the driver Harjinder Singh, a native of India, was in the U.S. illegally and he should have never received the licences in multiple states, including California.
But California Governor Gavin Newsom's office said the Trump administration is just trying to deflect responsibility for the crash.
Singh was tested by investigators for his English proficiency and allegedly failed badly.
In the latest development, the governor's office in New Mexico said a body camera video released by its state police makes it clear that Singh understands English.
