DHS shuts down over 100 truck driving schools department says are phony

The Trump administration launched what it described as an unprecedented interagency crackdown against fraud within the commercial trucking industry, the Department of Homeland Security reported on Monday. Homeland Security officials partnered with the Transportation Department in targeting over 200 driving schools across 23 states during a single-day sweep. Officials shut down 110 commercial driver's license schools, tied to more than 5,000 drivers who failed English proficiency tests, the DHS reported. The latest crackdown came about a month after President Donald Trump unveiled his new Freedom Haulers initiative, a push to replace unqualified migrant truck drivers with American veterans.

DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin held a joint press conference with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy introducing the effort on Monday. The pair also debuted a multistate partnership aimed at securing highways and strengthening border security, called the Joint Task Force Crossroads of America. So-called angel families, relatives of those harmed by illegal migrants, also attended the press conference.

Investigators planned to target employees suspected of accepting bribes to help illegal migrants bypass license requirements, Mullin shared. He went on to call it sickening to think people can’t speak or read English being turned loose on the road with an 80,000-pound truck. The drivers of concern included those who entered the country illegally, along with those who entered legally but weren’t properly trained, Duffy said. Good companies that hire non-English-speaking drivers better watch out, because the task force will hold companies accountable for hiring unqualified drivers, he added.