Indiana – Indiana’s top political leaders want to make it harder for people who are not legally permitted to drive heavy trucks on the state’s highways. This is because there has been a recent surge in deadly crashes involving drivers who were in the country illegally and had Commercial Driver’s Licenses.
Governor Mike Braun, Attorney General Todd Rokita, and State Rep. Jim Pressel all stood together to talk about a plan to make Indiana’s CDL system stronger and get what they call “dangerous drivers” off the road. Sen. Michael Crider is getting ready to offer a Senate amendment to House Bill 1200 that would make those modifications part of state law.
State officials said the effort comes after a number of deadly accidents in the past several weeks involving large commercial vehicles driven by illegal immigrants with CDLs. They say that the events showed flaws in oversight and led to urgent calls for change. In response, the governor’s office and lawmakers started working on what they call a first-of-its-kind amendment to fix such gaps.
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Braun and Kristi Noem, the head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, announced Operation Midway Blitz last fall. It was a 287(g) enforcement initiative done with the Indiana State Police. The operation was mostly on roadways close to the Illinois state line and led to the arrest of 223 illegal immigrants, 146 of them were truck drivers. State authorities said the operation showed how significant the problem is on Indiana roads.
Braun recently worked with the Federal Motor Carriers Association to examine Indiana’s non-domiciled CDLs. As a result of that investigation, the state has started the process of getting rid of hundreds of drivers who were found to have illegally gotten their licenses.
The suggested change would go even further. It would require more proof during the CDL licensing process and make it unlawful for illegal immigrants to keep their CDLs. It also adds new penalties for both companies that hire unlicensed drivers and the drivers themselves.
“As the Crossroads of America, Indiana must do all we can to ensure our roads are safe,” said Gov. Braun in a release Monday. “In addition to strengthening our CDL licensing process, Indiana will revoke the CDLs of drivers who are illegal immigrants and penalize companies who employ them. Through strong enforcement we will keep our roads and highways safe.”
Rokita pointed to what he described as “horrible accidents” that ended in fatalities, saying the state already has authority to revoke licenses on public safety grounds.
“We’ve seen horrible accidents on our roads—terrible tragedies that ended in fatalities—all caused by illegal aliens driving commercial vehicles they had no business operating,” Attorney General Rokita said. “Although the state already has the power to revoke a license for a public safety risk, we have worked directly with legislators and the governor on proposed statutory language to make license revocation mandatory in cases of illegal aliens, since the federal government has already determined these aliens pose serious public safety risks.”
Pressel stressed the amendment’s language competence requirements, saying that commercial drivers need to be able to read and understand traffic signs and directives from the police. The bill would take away CDLs given to people who haven’t shown they can drive properly and make it harder for people who drive without a valid license to get caught.
The plan says that if someone drives a commercial vehicle without a valid CDL, they might be charged with a Level 6 felony and have to pay a $5,000 fine. Trucking businesses who hire these kinds of drivers might be fined up to $50,000.
Supporters contend that the law makes Indiana one of the first states to explicitly link enforcing immigration status with mandatory CDL revocation and higher penalties for employers. They think this will make Hoosier highways safer.
