On Thursday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed to reporters that 17,000 non-English-speaking truck drivers have been removed from the road due to new administration rules. However, ride-share services like Uber and Lyft, along with taxis, still contract non-English-speaking drivers. According to Duffy, that's a trickier problem to solve.

“The problem is that our states are the ones that issue these licenses. So with commercial driver’s licenses, we do have some federal control," Duffy said Thursday during a Cabinet meeting, emphasizing that the work the administration has been able to do with Commercial Drivers Licenses (CDLs) differs from what their abilities are with state-administered drivers' licenses. 

Duffy went on to explain the safety problems—drivers who can’t read signs or communicate with police—and criticized former President Joe Biden's administration for letting truck-driving schools practically self-certify. 

“This is like the ‘Learning Center’. You pay $800, you get a certificate that you passed a CDL driving school, and they have no skills. They haven't gone through any of the testing, and then they get licenses, and they're killing Americans on our roads."

No federal control of rideshares

For CDLs, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) can audit, set minimum standards states must follow, and enforce safety rules nationwide for commercial trucks. Rideshare & taxis are treated as local services; therefore, the federal DOT (Department of Transportation) has almost no authority over driver licensing or day-to-day operations. 

Even though states print and hand out the licenses, federal law, via the FMCSA, sets the minimum qualifications every state must follow. That includes the long-standing rule that commercial drivers must “speak and read English sufficiently” to understand road signs, talk to law enforcement, and handle emergencies. 

The Trump/Duffy DOT used that federal leverage to identify and remove the 17,000 unqualified big-rig drivers (many of whom got CDLs through the previous administration’s lax “self-certifying” truck schools). States still have to cooperate on enforcement, which is why Duffy said he needs “partnership” (he even noted California Governor Gavin Newsom is starting to play ball).

Rideshare drivers, along with taxi drivers, do not need a CDL. They operate under ordinary state driver’s licenses plus whatever local ride-share or taxi permit the city/county requires (background checks, insurance, vehicle inspections, etc.). 

There is no federal commercial licensing regime that applies the same way. Regulation is handled at the state or city level (e.g., California Public Utilities Commission for Uber/Lyft, NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission for cabs). The federal DOT can’t just “extend” the trucker rule because it doesn’t have jurisdiction over these local passenger services.

43% of U.S. rideshare drivers speak a language other than English at home

Non-English speaking drivers represent a substantial portion of the workforce powering Uber, Lyft, and traditional taxi services in the United States, often filling critical gaps in flexible, on-demand transportation through immigrant labor. According to Lyft’s 2024 Economic Impact Report, 43% of its U.S. drivers speak a language other than English at home, with Spanish accounting for nearly three-fourths of those cases.

A 2023 California study of Uber and Lyft drivers by Rideshare Drivers United and Asian Americans Advancing Justice–Asian Law Caucus found that those with no English proficiency faced an 86% deactivation rate—compared to just 61% for fluent speakers—largely stemming from passenger complaints about communication.

Similarly, a University of Washington study reported that 83% of surveyed rideshare drivers did not speak English as their first language. Traditional taxi operations show parallel demographics; as of 2016 in New York City, only 4% of yellow cab drivers were U.S.-born, indicating heavy reliance on non-native English speakers amid relaxed language testing requirements.

President Donald Trump's administration instituted the new commercial driving regulations following a slew of traffic accident fatalities resulting from commercial truck drivers breaking road laws.

Unqualified truck driver kills three

On August 19, 2025, 25-year-old Harjinder Singh—an illegal immigrant from India who held CDLs improperly issued by California and Washington—made an illegal U-turn through an “Official Use Only” median opening on Florida’s Turnpike near Fort Pierce in St. Lucie County. A minivan slammed into the trailer at highway speed, killing three South Florida men.

Just two months later, 21-year-old Jashanpreet Singh, another illegal immigrant from India who had obtained a California CDL after entering the U.S. unlawfully in 2022, drove his semi-truck into stopped traffic on Interstate 10 in Ontario, San Bernardino County, California, triggering a fiery chain-reaction pileup that killed three people, including Pomona High School assistant basketball coach Clarence Nelson and his wife. 

Then, on December 9, 2025, 54-year-old Yisong Huang, an illegal immigrant from China who could not speak English and had secured a CDL despite federal rules, rear-ended a tractor-trailer while distracted by a video on his phone on Interstate 40 westbound in Putnam County, Tennessee, causing a multi-vehicle crash that killed 31-year-old truck driver Kerry Smith.

Amanda Head serves as White House Correspondent for Just The News. You can follow her here.