‘Dalilah Law’ Seeks to Bar Commercial Driver’s Licenses for Illegal Migrants

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Republican U.S. senator has introduced legislation that would block states from issuing commercial driver’s licenses to illegal migrants, tying federal transportation funding to compliance and citing a series of fatal crashes involving heavy trucks.

Senator Jim Banks said the proposed legislation, known as the “Dalilah Law,” would require states to take specific steps to remove what he described as “illegal alien truck drivers” from U.S. roads as a condition for receiving funding from the Department of Transportation.

The proposal follows President Donald Trump’s call during his State of the Union address for Congress to pass legislation “called ‘the Dalilah Law’ barring any state from granting commercial driver’s licenses to illegal aliens.”

Banks said the bill was prompted by a growing number of deadly incidents.

“Too many people have been hurt. Too many have been killed. Americans are paying the price because illegal drivers are being handed commercial driver’s licenses like candy and put behind the wheel of 80,000-pound trucks. That stops now. The Dalilah Law makes it clear: if you are here illegally, you do not get a CDL. We need to act, and we need to act now,” he said.

Under the proposed legislation, states would be required to restrict commercial driver’s licenses to U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, and certain work visa holders. States would also be required to revoke trucking licenses issued to “illegal aliens and aliens with temporary status, whether or not such persons have work authorisation.”

The bill would further mandate that commercial driver’s license knowledge and skills tests be administered in English only.

Earlier this week, Banks wrote to Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Administrator Derek D. Barrs requesting an immediate investigation into potential “chameleon carrier” trucking networks operating in Indiana.

“I urge you to investigate potential chameleon carrier trucking networks operating in Indiana,” Banks wrote in a February 23 letter.

The letter cited the death of Terry Schultz, who “died after being struck by a semitruck driven by an Indian national who reportedly crossed the southern border illegally and received trucking licenses from New York and Indiana.”

“Seven Hoosiers have been killed in six months by illegal alien truck drivers. This is a national crisis,” Banks wrote.

The legislation is named after Dalilah Coleman, a first-grade student who was severely injured in a six-vehicle crash allegedly caused by “an illegal alien driving a semitruck with a CDL.” According to a press release, the driver “crossed the border in 2022 and was released into the country by the Biden administration.”

The proposal also references a June 20, 2024, crash in California involving “Partap Singh — an illegal alien from India,” who was issued a commercial driver’s license by the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles. Other incidents cited include a fatal crash in Indiana involving an Indian national, a Georgian national granted a CDL by New York State, and a driver from Serbia and Montenegro who reportedly owned two trucking companies despite being in the United States illegally since 2011.

Commercial driver’s licenses are issued by individual states, though interstate trucking is governed by federal regulations. Immigration status and eligibility for such licenses remain highly contested political issues across the United States. (Source: IANS)