The commercial trucking industry is under pressure from cheap non-domiciled drivers holding state-issued commercial licenses, and a DOT audit plus new emergency rules have exposed how sanctuary-state policies created a market distortion that risks safety and small businesses. Industry leaders say the change after COVID was more than economics; it was a structural shock from illegal drivers undercutting rates and stretching safety rules, and regulators have now moved to tighten verification and expiration rules for non-domiciled CDLs. This article follows that thread, reports exact industry quotes, outlines the federal findings, and notes the political pushback from state officials resisting the new limits.
Mike Kucharski, vice president of a Midwest trucking firm, says the fallout was gradual until the fatal crashes and the DOT audit made the scale obvious. He described a market where, after COVID, volumes dropped and did not recover as expected, and it took time to see why business was drying up. “We knew there was an issue right after COVID because the rates dropped down, and we just thought, ‘Okay, look, it’s just inflation … the wars, etcetera, all these aspects causing the volumes to be down. We’re thinking, ‘Okay. In the long run, these volumes will go back up to what they were pre-COVID conditions or just go back to regular volumes, and we’ll be back in business.’ But what happened? The complete opposite happened,” he said. “They went down and stayed down, and we never knew, as truckers, what was the problem.”
What Kucharski and other owners describe is plain economics: when someone floods a market and can operate without the same costs, legitimate firms lose loads to the lowest bidder. Kucharski paints a stark picture of drivers who can undercut the market because they are living in trucks, may not have tax burdens, and can accept razor-thin margins other operators cannot. “All our truckers are fighting for the same load, and it goes to the lowest bidder,” he went on. “If you have these drivers coming in that are non-domiciled, they have no family here, they have no home, they live in their truck … They’re saying, ‘Okay, look, all the market’s doing for $2,000, we’ll do it for $1,700.’ So, it’s putting small trucking businesses out of business every day.”
Beyond economics, safety concerns were flagged after a deadly crash exposed how a non-domiciled license had been issued despite questions about authorization. Federal auditors from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration found “systemic policy, procedural, and programming errors” in how certain commercial licenses were handled. Investigators flagged cases where CDLs remained valid even after federal work authorization expired, a loophole that can keep drivers on the road with no legal employment status. Such findings prompted a sharp federal response aimed at restoring consistent verification across states.
The Trump administration’s Transportation Secretary released a hard-hitting audit and followed with an emergency interim rule tightening eligibility for non-domiciled commercial learner’s permits and CDLs. The new rule narrows eligibility to certain employment-based visa holders and forces states to verify status through the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements database. It also requires non-domiciled permits and licenses to expire no later than the end date on the driver’s federal immigration record or after one year, whichever is sooner, and mandates states keep proof of lawful presence on file for at least two years. Industry leaders welcomed the clarity because markets and safety rely on consistent rules.
Trucking is already a heavily regulated field, and owners say inconsistent enforcement across states handed a competitive advantage to those exploiting lax systems. “We’re over-regulated, honestly, in the trucking industry. And if you’re overregulated, you think, ‘Well, there’s no way that this could happen, and it is happening, right now as we speak,” he said. “It’s eye-opening, disturbing and jaw-dropping.” From a Republican perspective, the argument is simple: rules mean something if they are enforced the same everywhere, and when they are not, honest operators and public safety suffer.
Sanctuary-style licensing policies in certain states created a two-tier system where a driver with a non-domiciled state CDL could underbid legitimate carriers across state lines. The federal rule aims to close that gap by forcing states to use federal checks that confirm an applicant’s lawful presence before issuing commercial credentials. That brings a national standard back into play, which supporters say will level the playing field and reduce incentives to exploit differences in state systems. For companies that lost business to lower-bid competitors, this is a long-overdue correction.
State officials pushed back, saying their licensing practices followed federal rules and pointing to lower-than-average crash rates for drivers with certain state CDLs. “California continues to follow federal rules regarding CDLs.” “Lost in the immigrant-bashing is the fact that drivers holding a California-issued CDL are involved in fatal crashes at a rate far lower than the national average. If the focus were on safety, California should be a poster child, not a scapegoat,” the spokesperson said. “Consistent with federal law, California issued commercial driver’s licenses only to drivers if the federal government confirmed their legal presence,” the spokesperson went on, adding, “The Trump administration didn’t like these federal rules and just recently changed them to restrict refugees, DACA holders, and others from being able to apply for a CDL.”
Industry voices are calling for ongoing enforcement, better cross-state verification, and accountability when systems fail to protect both the national market and the public. “This is a very serious crisis issue,” Kucharski said. “The trucking industry depends on trust. That means ensuring every driver on the road is properly licensed, well-trained, and mentally and physically fit to operate heavy equipment.” His appeal is to regulators and operators alike to make sure the system works the way it should and that reform prioritizes both safety and fair competition.
“All I can say is strategies like this remind us that reform isn’t just about policies, [its] about human lives. And it’s on all of us, from the regulators to the fleet owners, to the driver trainers, to ensure the system works the way it should.”
