The US Department of Transportation announced on February 18 that over 550 substandard commercial driver’s license (CDL) training schools that did not meet the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) standards have been notified of their removal from the national training institution list.
FMCSA recently mobilized over 300 inspectors across all 50 states for a five-day blitz of more than 1,400 surprise inspections. They discovered numerous issues at the driving schools, such as lack of qualified instructors, the use of false addresses, and failure to provide proper training on hazardous materials transportation for drivers. One of the schools identified was even training school bus drivers.
“For too long, the trucking industry has operated like the wild west with no one holding them accountable, and that responsibility falls on me. Under President Trump’s leadership, my team is cracking down hard on every illegal aspect of the trucking supply chain that leads to reckless behavior impacting road safety in America,” stated US Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy. He added, “American families should be able to trust that school bus and truck drivers are strictly adhering to the law, starting with receiving proper training before hitting the road.”
Following investigations into 1,426 driver training institutions, FMCSA issued “proposed disqualification” notices to 448 schools that did not meet basic safety standards. 109 training institutions proactively withdrew from the registry upon being informed about the inspectors’ visits, while 97 institutions are still under compliance review.
Common violations listed by the Department of Transportation include: 1) Unqualified instructors – some coaches did not even have the required licenses or permits for the courses they were teaching, such as lacking a school bus driver license; 2) Inadequate vehicles – training vehicles did not match the type of training provided; 3) Incomplete assessments – institutions failed to conduct basic evaluations of students; 4) Non-compliance with state regulations – schools acknowledged not meeting the regulations of their respective states.
“Hundreds of inspectors visited these schools in person,” remarked FMCSA Director Derek D. Barrs. “If schools are not using appropriate vehicles or have unqualified instructors, they are not qualified to train the next generation of truck or school bus drivers.”
In the past six months, seven Indiana residents were killed in truck accidents caused by illegal immigrant drivers. On February 18, Singh Sukhdeep, driving a semi-truck, ran a red light and collided with a Chevrolet pickup truck, causing it to veer over the median and strike another vehicle. The 64-year-old pickup truck driver Terry Schultz died at the scene.
Sukhdeep, originally from India, was arrested in 2018 for attempting to illegally enter the country but was released due to being a minor at the time. According to the “Flores Agreement” enacted in 1997, unaccompanied children crossing the border are released to their parents or adult relatives and not detained. In May 2025, Sukhdeep obtained a commercial driver’s license in Indiana and caused a major accident just over eight months later.
On February 3, Bekzhan Beishekeev, a 30-year-old from Kyrgyzstan, driving a semi-truck, failed to yield to another vehicle and abruptly entered the opposite lane, crashing into a box truck, resulting in the deaths of four Amish community members, including two young individuals aged 19 and 25.
Beishekeev entered the US through the CBP One program approved by the prior administration, obtaining commercial driver’s license in Pennsylvania. CBP One, initiated by the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in October 2020 to assist freight companies with cargo inspections, was expanded in 2023 to include immigration asylum applications, allowing individuals to enter the US before a full review of their asylum case. The program was terminated on President Trump’s inauguration day, now rebranded as CBP Home to aid in deporting illegal immigrants.
Both drivers responsible for last year’s two fatal accidents obtained their commercial driver’s licenses in California. On October 21, Jashanpreet Singh, 21, drove a semi-truck in Ontario, California, causing an eight-vehicle chain reaction crash due to failure to slow down and brake in time, resulting in three deaths and multiple injuries. He faced charges of DUI, reckless manslaughter, and other serious offenses, subsequently detained by immigration authorities. Singh, also from India, illegally entered the US in 2022 and remained in the country.
In August last year, Harjinger Singh, 28, drove a semi-truck on a toll road in Florida and made an illegal U-turn, leading to a major accident that killed three people. Like the other drivers, he also hailed from India, entered illegally via Mexico in 2018, and obtained a commercial driver’s license in California in 2024. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier disclosed that Singh only answered 2 out of 12 English proficiency test questions correctly and identified only 1 out of 4 traffic signs during the exam.
Since last August, the Department of Transportation has been investigating state governments that issued CDLs to unqualified immigrants. However, state responses vary, with California losing $160 million in federal funds in January for delaying the revocation of 17,000 non-domiciled CDLs – non-domiciled indicating the individual’s permanent residence is not in the US.
Jeffery Burkhardt, President of the National Truck Driving School Association, welcomed the Department of Transportation’s cleanup of unqualified schools, stating, “This is a good thing, and legitimate driving schools have no objections to it.”