The U.S. Department of Homeland Security will team up with the U.S. Department of Transportation to target fraud in commercial driver’s license schools, the agency announced.
Under the partnership, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) will work alongside the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to identify and address fraud tied to the issuance of non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses to illegal aliens. The two agencies, joined by state and local partners, said their focus will be on preserving the integrity of the CDL system and ensuring that only qualified individuals operate commercial vehicles.
FMCSA has flagged roughly 75 entry-level driver training schools suspected of fraudulent activity, including the use of improper driver certifications, falsification of training records, and failure to train CDL applicants, according to DHS properly. The Transportation Department plans to bring HSI into its investigations of those schools.
“Too many American lives have been lost in completely avoidable accidents because illegal aliens have been granted commercial driver’s licenses to drive trucks and 18-wheelers on America’s roadways,” DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a news release. “DHS law enforcement is partnering with the Department of Transportation to eliminate CDL fraud, strengthen the integrity of the CDL system, and investigate commercial driver’s license schools throughout the country. This is a whole-of-government approach, to keep America’s roads safe.”
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy said his department has spent the past year pursuing bad actors in the trucking industry.
“USDOT has spent the last year rooting out bad actors from our trucking industry,” Duffy said. “We’ve knocked over 24,000 drivers off our roads for failing to speak English, forced states to cancel over 28,000 licenses illegally issued to foreign drivers, and purged over 9,500 unqualified training schools from our FMCSA registry. DHS will be a force multiplier of our efforts to clean up America’s roads. President Trump is using every lever at his disposal to ensure the safety of American families.”
DHS described the effort as part of the administration’s broader push to “root out fraud from American trucking and restore integrity to the industry.”
Provided by Dallas Express
