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President Donald Trump’s administration abruptly halted issuing U.S. visas for truck drivers on Thursday, following a fatal crash that garnered national attention. This marks another sweeping move against foreign visitors.
“Effective immediately, we are pausing all visas for commercial truck drivers,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on X (formerly Twitter). He explained that the rising number of foreign drivers hauling large tractor-trailers on American roads is risking lives and harming the livelihoods of American truckers.
Rubio’s decision came after a truck driver was charged with causing a crash in Florida that killed three people while making an illegal U-turn. The driver, Harjinder Singh from India, entered the U.S. unlawfully from Mexico and subsequently failed an English test following the incident, according to federal officials.
This incident attracted extensive media coverage and was highlighted by Florida officials, a state led by Trump’s Republican Party. The lieutenant governor traveled to California to extradite Singh personally with immigration agents. Singh had his commercial license issued in California and was a resident of the state, which is managed by the opposing Democratic Party and opposes Trump’s immigration policies.
“Unfortunately, this crash was a preventable tragedy caused by reckless decisions, compounded by horrendous failures,” said Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, responded that the federal government had issued Singh’s work permit since he sought asylum, and California cooperated in his extradition.
Prior to this crash, Republican lawmakers had criticized foreign truckers, citing a rise in accidents but without concrete evidence linking those incidents directly to immigrants. In June, Duffy mandated that truck drivers must speak English. While drivers have long had to pass English proficiency tests, in 2016 under President Obama, authorities were told not to remove drivers solely based on language deficits.
The demographic landscape of truck drivers has shifted significantly. Between 2000 and 2021, the number of foreign-born truck drivers in the U.S. more than doubled to about 720,000, representing 18% of the industry—comparable to the overall U.S. labor market but a departure from the traditionally white, working-class male profile of the profession.
Most foreign truckers hail from Latin America, with notable numbers from India and Eastern Europe, especially Ukraine. The surge in foreign drivers stems from a genuine labor shortage; earlier this year, a study estimated the U.S. faces a shortfall of 24,000 drivers, costing the freight industry nearly $96 million weekly due to undelivered goods.
Trump has long prioritized immigration restrictions, rising to prominence with promises to build a wall along the Mexican border in 2016. Rubio has played a leading role in Trump’s efforts, especially in tightening visa policies. Recently, the State Department has revoked over 6,000 student visas since Trump’s inauguration—quadrupling the number from the previous year—and has implemented ongoing vetting for all 55 million foreigners holding U.S. visas.
Rubio has also ordered social media checks on visa applicants and has removed students who have publicly opposed certain U.S. foreign policies, using laws permitting visa rescission based on perceived national interests. Over the weekend, the department paused visas for severely wounded children from Gaza seeking treatment, following claims by far-right activist Laura Loomer that she warned Rubio about “Islamic invaders” from Gaza.
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