New visas paused for commercial truck drivers, Rubio says
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Trucks lined up at the U.S.-Mexico border in January 2025. Photo: Carlos Moreno/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The federal government will pause issuing new visas for commercial truck drivers, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday night.
Why it matters: The trucking industry is, by some estimates, short tens of thousands of drivers already.
What they're saying: "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," Rubio said in a post on X.
By the numbers: Foreign-born truckers are a huge part of the industry.
- Truckstop trade group NATSO, citing government data, said last year that some 18% of working drivers were immigrants.
- Rubio's order doesn't necessarily endanger their status immediately, but could prevent new drivers from coming in or existing drivers from renewing.
The American Trucking Associations praised Rubio's move.
- "ATA supports pausing work visas for commercial drivers and believes the issuance of non-domiciled (commercial driver licenses) needs serious scrutiny, including the enforcement of entry-level driver training standards," ATA CEO Chris Spear said in a statement.
Context: The issue of truck drivers and immigration status has been in the news of late, after an undocumented immigrant was accused of causing a fatal crash in Florida earlier this month.
- Federal authorities say he obtained a commercial driver's license (CDL) in California despite his immigration status.
Between the lines: In April, President Trump signed an executive order requiring the Department of Transportation to ensure drivers who couldn't demonstrate proficiency in English were taken off the road.
- The English requirement was already a federal regulation, but hadn't been strictly enforced since 2016.
- Those rules generally require truck drivers to speak and read English well enough to have a conversation, read signs, answer questions, and write reports.
The intrigue: The trucker shortage has, in the past, been cited as a contributing factor to rising inflation, given the lack of enough drivers to move goods.
- As Axios Pro Deals' Colin Campbell notes, a yearslong freight recession has been exacerbated by wage pressures as well.
What to watch: It wasn't clear from Rubio's post how long the pause would last.
- The current fiscal year, to which visa caps are usually tied, ends Sept. 30.
Go deeper: Trump admin vetting 55M U.S. visa holders for potential violations
Editor's note: This story has been updated with an industry statement.
