U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced that 1,500 trucks have been taken off the road because the drivers did not speak English.
Newsmax’s host Rob Finnerty asked, “How important is it for truck drivers in this country to speak English?”
Duffy replied, “Listen, it’s wildy important because this has been on the American books for decades, because if you’re pulled over or you have a crash, and you can’t communicate with law enforcement or with first responders, it’s a truely safety issue.”
“Barack Obama, what he did is he took the teeth out of this rule of English only. We brought those teeth back to the pre-Obama era to go ‘we’re going to put you out of business.’”
“We’ve taken 1,500 trucks out of service, off the roads because the drivers couldn’t speak English.”
“I think that’s what the American people expect from us. English is the language of the United States of America.”
“If you’re going to get in a mobile missile, you should speak our language.”
Watch:
On April 28, 2025, President Trump signed the Executive Order: Enforcing Commonsense Rules of the Road for America’s Truck Drivers.
The EO reads in part:
America’s truck drivers are essential to the strength of our economy, the security of our Nation, and the livelihoods of the American people. Every day, truckers perform the demanding and dangerous work of transporting the Nation’s goods to businesses, customers, and communities safely, reliably, and efficiently.
Proficiency in English, which I designated as our official national language in Executive Order 14224 of March 1, 2025 (Designating English as the Official Language of the United States), should be a non-negotiable safety requirement for professional drivers. They should be able to read and understand traffic signs, communicate with traffic safety, border patrol, agricultural checkpoints, and cargo weight-limit station officers. Drivers need to provide feedback to their employers and customers and receive related directions in English. This is common sense.
That is why Federal law requires that, to operate a commercial vehicle, a driver must “read and speak the English language sufficiently to converse with the general public, to understand highway traffic signs and signals in the English language, to respond to official inquiries, and to make entries on reports and records.” Yet this requirement has not been enforced in years, and America’s roadways have become less safe.
