An Open Letter To Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, and a White Paper

The Time to fix American Trucking was Yesterday

My colleagues at American Truckers United have sent a letter to Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, which we are now releasing as an open letter for the public, along with a White Paper and an Action Plan to help fix all of the problems ATU and this Substack discuss; if you are new here, more links will be provided down below, along with a new video featuring myself and Shannon Everett of ATU.

——————

The Letter

Date: April 11, 2025

The Honorable Sean P. Duffy

Secretary of Transportation

U.S. Department of Transportation

1200 New Jersey Avenue,

SE Washington, DC 20590

Dear Secretary Duffy,


Congratulations on your confirmation as the 20th Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation. Your leadership comes at a critical juncture for our nation’s transportation systems, and we are confident in your ability to champion policies that prioritize safety, security, and economic prosperity.

I am writing to urgently request your attention to serious issues undermining the American trucking industry, as detailed in the attached white paper, Critical Immigration Loopholes in the Trucking Industry. The paper identifies five pressing concerns: (1) English proficiency violations endangering road safety, (2) unchecked issuance of non-domicile CDLs to unidentifiable individuals, (3) unfair foreign CDL reciprocity undermining American drivers, (4) misuse of B1 visitor visas to displace U.S. workers, and (5) the need for criminal statutes to hold non-citizen drivers accountable for causing harm. These loopholes contribute to rising fatalities, widespread job losses, wage suppression, and fraud, while posing significant risks to public safety and national security.


We respectfully urge you to prioritize these matters by implementing the white paper’s recommendations, including rescinding the 2016 FMCSA Memorandum, banning non-domicile CDLs, capping foreign CDLs or imposing tariƯs to address USMCA imbalances, restricting B1 visa misuse, and enacting criminal statutes for non-citizen drivers. These actions will restore fairness, protect American truck drivers, and ensure the safety and security of our highways.


Thank you for your commitment to strengthening America’s transportation infrastructure. We look forward to supporting your efforts to address these critical issues and are available to discuss the white paper’s findings in greater detail.


Sincerely,

Shannon Everett

co-founder, American Truckers United

The White Paper

American Truckers United

Critical Immigration Loopholes in the Trucking Industry

April 11, 2025 - White Paper Study

The American trucking industry, a backbone of the U.S. economy, faces escalating threats to public safety, economic stability, and national security due to lax enforcement of federal regulations and flawed immigration and trade policies. This white paper focuses on five critical issues—English proficiency violations mandating out-of-service orders, unchecked non-domicile and foreign commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) issued to unidentifiable individuals, abuse of B1 visitor visas to displace American workers, and the need for criminal statutes for non-citizens causing harm— demanding urgent action to protect American truck drivers, the public, and the nation’s security.

1. English Proficiency Out of Service Violation

Safe operation of commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) hinges on drivers’ ability to read and understand U.S. road signs. The 2016 FMCSA Memorandum (MC-ECE-2016-006) eliminated enforcement of 49 CFR 391.11(b)(2), which requires CMV drivers to converse in English, respond to official inquiries, read traffic signs, and complete reports. By allowing tools like Google Translate during inspections, it has undermined law enforcement’s ability to ensure compliance. Drivers unable to read road signs pose an immediate hazard, contributing to a surge in large truck-involved fatal crashes through 2022. The policy must be clear: drivers observed unable to read U.S. road signs must be placed out of service and removed from the roads immediately. Rescinding the memorandum and mandating roadside English proficiency checks are essential to restore highway safety.

2. Unlimited Non-Domicile Commercial Driver’s Licenses Issuance

The issuance of non-domicile CDLs to non-citizens has reached crisis levels, jeopardizing public safety and national security. FMCSA data shows inexplicable spikes in states like Minnesota, where CDL issuances soared from 2,500–3,500 annually to 50,634 in 2023 and 43,861 in 2024, despite a historic trucking recession. Alarmingly, we have identified non-domicile CDLs issued with no last name, no first name, or fabricated birth dates, indicating unvetted and unidentifiable individuals operating CMVs. In 2023, 88,000 trucking companies closed amid this influx, which suppresses wages and displaces American workers. Allowing such drivers—potentially from any part of the world—to navigate U.S. highways without proper vetting is a public safety disaster and a grave national security threat. All non-domicile CDLs issued to non-citizens must be revoked and banned outright to eliminate these risks and protect the integrity of the U.S. trucking industry.

3. Unlimited Foreign Commercial Driver’s Licenses Usage

The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) has created trade imbalances that are devastating American truck drivers. Reciprocity for foreign CDLs allows non-citizens, particularly from USMCA countries, to operate in the U.S. without meeting domestic training and testing standards, flooding the market with underqualified drivers on most USMCA freight. This reciprocity is fundamentally broken: American drivers are not operating in Mexico at all and are disproportionately underrepresented in Canada due to significant wage disparities that make it uneconomical for U.S. drivers to compete in those markets. Meanwhile, foreign drivers from Mexico and Canada, benefiting from lower wages in their home countries, have overrun the U.S. market, exacerbating economic harm. Compounding this issue, non-citizen drivers with foreign CDLs are not required to provide motor vehicle record (MVR) checks, unlike American drivers who face stringent regulations on their driving history and backgrounds to ensure a proven record of safe operation. This double standard allows potentially reckless or unqualified non-citizen drivers to operate without scrutiny, while American drivers are held to high accountability. The absence of stringent identification and vetting for these drivers further creates national security vulnerabilities. Every driver operating on a foreign CDL must be required to present a U.S.-issued identification— such as a federally compliant ID verified through a secure national database—and undergo comprehensive national security screening, including background checks for criminal history, terrorist aƯiliations, and other threats, conducted by federal agencies like the Department of Homeland Security. These measures are non-negotiable to ensure no unvetted individuals operate CMVs on U.S. soil. To restore fairness and security, the U.S. must impose a strict cap on the number of foreign CDLs permitted to operate domestically or introduce tariƯs on USMCA countries that dominate market share by exploiting lower wages. Either measure—a cap or a tariff—would offset wage disparities, protect American drivers, and ensure equitable trade practices while prioritizing national security.





4. Abuse of the B1 Visitor Visa by U.S. Domiciled Carriers




U.S. carriers exploit B1/B2 tourist visas to employ non-citizens as drivers beyond the designated border “Commercial Zone,” violating visa restrictions. A visitor visa is intended for temporary travel, not as a mechanism for U.S. companies to insource workers who are clearly not visiting but instead are replacing American workers in the trucking industry. The 2016 FMCSA Memorandum likely facilitated this practice, as non-citizen drivers improperly interacted with state agencies, enabling them to operate nationwide. This deliberate misuse undermines American truck drivers, undercuts legal operators, and threatens public safety by allowing unvetted drivers to bypass standard regulations. Investigating and strictly enforcing B1 visa restrictions to confine their use to border zones would curb these illegal labor practices, reduce unsafe operations, and protect American workers from being displaced by exploitative employment schemes.

5. Criminal Statutes for Non-Citizens Causing Injury or Death

Non-citizen drivers, often unqualified, uninsured, and unidentifiable, operate as “ghosts on the highway,” living in their trucks with minimal accountability. When these drivers cause accidents, justice is elusive. Establishing specific criminal statutes for non-citizens causing injury or death while operating CMVs would deter reckless behavior and ensure accountability. This measure would reinforce eƯorts to enforce safety regulations and protect the public from preventable harm.

Call to Action

Immediate action is essential to combat the rising fatalities, widespread job losses, wage suppression, and rampant fraud plaguing the American trucking industry due to unchecked immigration and trade practices. To address these crises, the following measures must be implemented:

- Rescind the 2016 FMCSA Memorandum and enforce out-of-service orders for drivers unable to read our road signs.

- Revoke and ban all non-domicile CDLs issued to non-citizens, with investigations into fraudulent issuances to address safety and security threats.

- Implement a cap on foreign CDLs permitted in the U.S. or impose tariffs on USMCA countries exploiting wage suppression, while mandating U.S.-issued IDs and rigorous national security screenings, including background checks for all foreign CDL holders.

- Restrict B1 visa use to border zones, penalize carriers exploiting these visas to insource workers, and protect American jobs from displacement.

- Enact criminal statutes for non-citizens causing injury or death while operating CMVs.

- Formation of a task force responsible for monitoring this transition and to identify the amount of economic damage that has been done to the American truck driver and the American trucking industry.

These steps will restore safety, fairness, and security to the American trucking industry, protecting its workforce, the public, and the nation’s economic and national sovereignty.

---

More Links

For more information on these issues, please consult my recent writings both here on Substack and out in the wild.

https://www.theblaze.com/align/highway-to-hell-mass-influx-of-foreign-born-truckers-cause-carnage-on-american-roads

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/trucking-has-an-immigrant-problem-and-trump-can-fix-it/

https://commonplace.org/2025/02/10/a-trucking-agenda-for-trump/



And last but not least, Shannon and myself were guests on Steve Bannon’s War Room show yesterday - check this out!

Please send this to your nearest Congresscritter and share with everyone you know who has to drive anywhere for any reason - they need to know what’s going on our roads, and to steel themselves.



Questions, comments, corrections, suggestions and Hate Mail are always welcomed and strongly encouraged - gordilocks@protonmail.com