By Douglas V. Gibbs
I had a Class-A license in California. It was difficult to obtain. Everyone fails the air-brakes test on their first try. During their second visit for the test, most fail the skills test, which includes parallel parking on the blind-side between cones with a space to fit your trailer in only twenty feet greater than the length of your trailer. Then, there’s the drive-test. One tire, only one, on any turn, touching a curb is an automatic fail. Once you pass one of the three you are good on that section, but to complete the whole thing it took me a third visit to the testing grounds. I held on to that license for twenty years – using it to transport construction equipment on a flat-bed trailer, forty-eight feet long trailer (I believe, if my memory serves me correct), and then during the final six years I drove a transfer (sand and gravel truck). My brother continues to drive a big rig, but now his commercial driver’s license is in a different State. I let mine expire roughly a decade ago, and I have since retired from the construction industry.
Driving a truck is a different experience. It’s a special skill, and it must be taken seriously because while you are on the road behind the wheel of a big rig, other lives are essentially in your hands. I remember when I went to get my license, I felt sixteen again. Sure, eventually my skill of driving a truck became not much different than driving my car – but in the beginning, it was a pretty steep learning curve.
So, looking back at my time behind the wheel of one of those bad boys, I have to ask myself: How is it that people who don’t have the skills, don’t have an understanding of the language, and can’t even read the street signs are able to acquire these licenses? And California, the State with among the toughest standards when I got my license roughly thirty years ago, is one of the culprits handing out these licenses to illegal aliens like they are candy.
You’ve seen the news items and videos of the illegal alien truck drivers making poor decisions, and in some cases killing travelers on the roadway. The one most of you may recall was in Florida, where the California-licensed driver made a U-Turn on a highway, and killed those who slammed into the trailer during the maneuver. Obviously, it’s a problem giving licenses to illegal aliens. Even if they weren’t illegal, the very fact that they don’t possess the skills, don’t care about our laws, and can’t even read the street signs ought to be a grave concern for folks out there on the roadways.
So, President Trump decided the problem must be solved. If you’re not even supposed to be in the country in the first place, which means you broke the law to get into the country, you should not be able to possess a driver’s license – much less a commercial (Class-A) license.
In response to Trump trying to resolve the problem, Twenty-one states and Washington, D.C., are effectively telling the Trump administration that they are more concerned about protecting the identities of illegal aliens than keeping American drivers safe on the roads.
Twenty-two lawsuits have been filed to keep the Department of Transportation from obtaining the identities of illegal aliens who have obtained commercial driver’s licenses.
And, let’s be clear: What the Trump Administration is requesting is not unreasonable or out of the ordinary. Every administration since 1988 has had access to the basic database in question. But, because they hate Trump, and they hate his immigration policies, state AGs are doing what they can to stand in the way of the Department of Transportation to access those records so that the Department may enforce the rules of the road. They would rather stand in the way of the process and make it easier for dangerous illegal immigrant truck drivers to operate a big rig. Their hatred for Trump, and their desire to protect criminal aliens, is more important than the safety of the lives of drivers on the road. They would rather violate a long-standing rule and put your family in danger on the road so that they can protect unqualified illegal drivers on the road who are causing senseless crashes.
It’s insane, to say the least.
While the Democrats have been going out of their way to protect illegal alien drivers, Americans have been dying on the highways. The Department of Transportation provided the actions it is taking to keep the country safe.
- Revoked over 30,000 illegally issued commercial driver’s licenses across non-compliant states.
- Removed nearly 10,000 fraudulent or unqualified CDL training providers from the federal registry.
- Enforced strict English Language Proficiency standards, placing over 26,000 non-compliant operators out of service to ensure every driver on American highways can read road signs and communicate with law enforcement.
- Closed the non-domiciled CDL loophole, cutting off unvetted foreign operators tied to dozens of fatal crashes.
But, that is just a tip of the iceberg. How many more drivers are there out on the road who needs to be taken off the road? Those drivers are not above the law, and neither should be the States attempting to protect them.
— Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
