by WorldTribune Staff, August 26, 2025 Real World News

California, Washington and New Mexico risk losing millions of dollars in federal funding if they refuse to enforce English language requirements for truckers, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on Tuesday.

Duffy said an investigation launched after a deadly Florida crash involving an illegal alien truck driver who made an illegal U-turn on Aug. 12 found significant failures in the way all three states are enforcing rules that took effect in June after one of President Donald Trump’s executive orders.

Truckers are supposed to be disqualified if they can’t demonstrate English proficiency, Duffy said.

Harjinder Singh, the illegal alien whose U-turn on the Florida turnpike investigators say resulted in the deaths of three people, was issued a trucker’s license by the state of California although he could not read or speak English and could only identify one or two traffic signs.

Duffy said Singh should not have ever been given a commercial driver’s license because of his immigration status.

Duffy added that it is a safety issue — not a political one — because truckers need to understand road signs and be able to communicate with law enforcement about what they are hauling if they are pulled over or what happened if there is an accident.

“This is about keeping people safe on the road. Your families, your kids, your spouses, your loved ones, your friends. We all use the roadway, and we need to make sure that those who are driving big rigs — semis — can understand the road signs, that they’ve been well trained,” Duffy said.

Duffy said states will lose money from the Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program if they don’t comply with the rules within 30 days. Duffy said California could lose $33 million, Washington could lose $10.5 million, and New Mexico could lose $7 million.

Duffy said his department is also reviewing how states were enforcing the rules before the crash.

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  Blue states could lose federal funding if English language rules for truckers aren’t enforced