The Trump Administration Has Made American Highways Safer
The Transportation Department is driving down fatalities by restoring trucking standards.
American highways have grown measurably safer since President Donald Trump returned to office and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy put commercial vehicle enforcement back at the center of federal policy.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates put 2025 traffic deaths at 36,640. That is still unacceptably high but a 6.7 percent drop from 2024. Early 2026 numbers show highway deaths continuing to slide, with about 7,770 in the first quarter, down 4.3 percent from the same period last year. Fatalities involving at least one large truck have declined by a full seven percent.
Much of that decline owes to the heightened safety standards Sec. Duffy has enforced by shutting down fraudulent trucking schools and removing dangerous, untrained semi-truck drivers from America's highways. More than 20,000 truckers have been taken off the road since mid-2025, including tens of thousands removed for English-proficiency and other violations.
On Aug. 31, Duffy and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin announced that 110 schools have been ordered shut immediately and about 160 more are being targeted as part of an action covering roughly 270–300 training sites because of fraud in the truck drivers' licensing business.
Earlier federal policy flooded the industry with non-domiciled CDLs for foreign drivers who often lacked language skills, basic competence, or even lawful status. This produced a string of preventable fatal wrecks that highlighted how immigration drives much of America's lack of highway safety.
Duffy's and Mullin's crackdowns on trucking fraud are slowly but surely fixing that pattern. Whether it continues long-term will depend on voters' willingness to support officials who limit immigration and enforce strict standards on those whom they do let into the country.
A CDL Is a Privilege, Not a Global Entitlement
In any normal, sovereign country, driving an 80,000-pound semi-truck is a privilege for people who can read road signs, communicate with police, prove lawful presence, and show they know how to drive. Democrats' view of immigration breaks those norms and creates moral hazard, endangering everyone on America's highways.
For many Americans, becoming a truck driver offers a way into the American Dream. Unfortunately, Democrats have for years marketed that as a dream for immigrants. When Democrats gain power, they create an environment that welcomes foreigners who view living in the U.S. as nothing but an opportunity to get rich by their countries' standards.
Under Democratic presidents and Democratic-run states, immigrants have taken advantage of the red carpet and set up training mills and trucking companies for their co-nationals. This caused the trickle of foreign drivers to turn into a wave as thousands of foreigners flooded the labor market through chain migration or easily obtainable work visas.
With their penchant for shying away from any form of policing or standardization that could hint at discrimination, Democrats turn a blind eye to these fraudulent operations, costing American drivers their automobiles—and often their lives. Duffy's approach rejects that philosophy, putting Americans first, and the reduced highway deaths demonstrate the result. In a country as car dependent as the U.S., American drivers should be able to travel on the roads their tax dollars pay for without having to worry whether an illegal alien is going to end them with an illegal U-turn.
A return to the pre-Trump era would mean looser licensing, weaker roadside checks, and another wave of trucker mills that treat a CDL as a commodity rather than a safety credential. American drivers should not have to share the road with people no responsible country would have licensed in the first place. The choice this November and in 2028 is whether the new standard holds and American highways continue the current trajectory.
MORE COVERAGE FROM RESTORATION NEWS
Why Trump Had To Act: Foreign CDL Holder Couldn’t Find Semi-Truck Lights While Driving at Night
Blue States Put All Americans At Risk: Restoration Responds: New California Tire Regulations Will Increase Highway Fatalities
Reckless Policies Cost Lives: PENNSYLVANIA: Democrats’ Reckless Immigration Policies Led to State Trooper’s Death
More Blue State Nonsense: Portland, Oregon Phasing Out Diesel?
Make American Roads Safe Again: Supreme Court Delivers Unanimous Win for Highway Safety
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