Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s announcement this week to halt work visas for foreign commercial truck drivers has been met with praise from conservatives following a deadly accident in Florida.
“Effective immediately, we are pausing all issuance of worker visas for commercial truck drivers,” Rubio said on X on Thursday. “The increasing number of foreign drivers operating large tractor-trailer trucks on U.S. roads is endangering American lives and undercutting the livelihoods of American truckers.”
The decision comes after a fatal crash in Florida, in which an illegal immigrant from India allegedly killed three people while driving a truck. Questions remain about how he obtained a commercial driver’s license, as federal investigators report that the suspect, Harjinder Singh, failed English proficiency and road sign tests.
Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, called the move “long overdue,” arguing that commercial truck drivers should not be recruited from abroad in the first place.
“There are legitimate questions about how qualified these foreign truck drivers are, following the horrible episode in Florida, where a non-English-speaking illegal alien who never should have been given any kind of driver’s license caused the death of three people as he botched an illegal U-turn in the middle of a divided highway,” Vaughan said.
She added that Americans cannot rely on trucking companies or state regulators to ensure that foreign truck drivers are competent and safe.
Lora Ries, director of the Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center, said the decision is “about road safety and immigration integrity.”
“DHS and the State Department should also analyze all current commercial truck drivers using a visa or an employment authorization document as the basis to obtain a commercial driver’s license and revoke such immigration benefits where appropriate. This is about road safety and immigration integrity,” Ries said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
Republican attorney Mehek Cooke said the policy ultimately reflects concerns about “sovereignty and safety.”
Fox News Digital also reached out to left-leaning immigrant advocacy groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Immigration Law Center.
David Bier, director of immigration studies at the CATO Institute, criticized the move, posting on X: “Massive truck driver shortage that is driving up the prices of everything we purchase and Rubio decides to make it worse based on an anecdote. Totally absurd decision-making process though I don’t know what visas he’s even talking about ‘pausing.’”
The Trump administration has implemented a series of significant immigration reforms, including mass deportation efforts following the Biden-era border crisis. In addition, the administration is currently reviewing millions of people with U.S. visas.
“The department’s continuous vetting includes all of the more than 55 million foreigners who currently hold valid U.S. visas,” a State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital on Friday.
