Trump says ‘proud American veterans’ will replace illegal immigrant truck drivers
President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced that veterans who have driven “heavy trucks” for the military will be automatically eligible for a commercial driver’s license, stating that they will replace illegal truck drivers being taken off the roads.
The president revealed the development at the Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit, where he mourned the death of a state trooper from Pennsylvania who was recently killed in a collision with a truck driver who was in the United States illegally. The announcement that the White House will push veterans to assume such jobs comes as Washington has engaged in a nationwide push to deport truck drivers whose legal status has expired, often citing concerns that they cannot read signs properly or have not adapted to U.S. culture.
“We’re going to take our veterans, we’re going to make them, we’re going to teach them a lot about driving trucks,” Trump said. “And in many cases, they know. We’re going to say any American who’s driven a heavy truck for our military will automatically be eligible for a commercial driver’s license. So we’re going to get them taken care of.”
“My administration will soon take historic action to get illegal alien truck drivers who are just killing a lot of people,” the president added. “They can’t read signs. Many of them are on drugs or alcohol, and they shouldn’t be driving these things. And they came in totally illegally. We don’t want them, but they are driving all over American roadways, and we’re going to replace them with proud American veterans.”
Michael Pahira Jr. is the state trooper who was killed earlier this month in a crash with tractor-trailer driver Michael Bon. Bon is from Haiti and was granted legal status under the Biden administration, eventually settling in Massachusetts. He was approved for CDL renewal to be a truck driver in February.
Bon’s humanitarian parole was terminated in June 2025, according to the Trump administration. Massachusetts officials confirmed to WVIA that Bon was legally eligible for a CDL at the time he applied in March 2025 because he had not yet been ordered to leave the country. Bon’s defense attorney said Monday that officials granted his client a work permit while he was awaiting an asylum disposition. The attorney said Bon suffered from an untreated medical condition that could have caused him to lose control and crash his rig into two other vehicles.
Trump referenced the case on Wednesday, as his administration continues to target people like Bon for deportation.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in February that all commercial truck drivers will be required to complete their license tests in English only, after expressing concern over an audit indicating DMVs in a handful of states are allowing people who enter the U.S. on work permits to illegally obtain CDLs they could use even after the permits expire.
Officials announced last week that federal immigration officers have been dispatched to truck weigh stations at select locations nationwide to search for nearly 200,000 noncitizens who received CDLs.
Over the past year, the Trump administration has rescinded 28,000 illegally issued licenses and is now going after 194,000 more CDL holders. The move could amplify concerns about shortages of truck drivers, as the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates foreign-born commercial drivers make up 18% of all commercial drivers.
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