Mazzei Minute 09/21/25

Our highways have become less safe due to commercial drivers who are neither domiciled in the country nor proficient in English.  In Florida recently, a horrific traffic accident killed three people when an illegal immigrant from India with a fraudulently issued commercial driver’s license (CDL) struck a minivan while driving on the Florida Turnpike near Ft. Pierce.

In Oklahoma, our problem is two-fold. First, we have hundreds of non-English speaking CDL truckers crisscrossing our state.  Second, we have a breakdown in the enforcement to get these threats off the road.

Senate Bill 20 by Senator Kendall Sacchieri became law this year, mandating non-domiciled commercial drivers have a valid work visa, proof of citizenship, and English proficiency.  The law bans certain visa holders from driving commercial vehicles, and violations can result in fines up to $3,000 for drivers, $5,000 for carriers, vehicle impoundment, or misdemeanor charges. 

Enforcing this law, however, has proven problematic. Three different government agencies share oversight and enforcement responsibilities and can’t coordinate efficiently to keep the bad apples off the road.  The Oklahoma Department of Transportation, the Department of Public Safety and the Oklahoma Corporation Commission all have different responsibilities for road safety.  What do you get when you mix three government agencies and three bureaucracies to deliver safety on the roads?  You get lots of dysfunction and very poor enforcement.

To put America First, when I am governor, I will sign an Executive Order banning all non-domiciled CDLs within Oklahoma borders and direct the DPS Troopers to enforce the law and interdict all trucks that have Motor Carrier Safety violations at our points of entry into the state.

Some industry leaders, like Freymiller Trucking, are working hard with legislators to streamline state agency functions that actually provide more effective enforcement of out-of-state trucks obeying weight requirements, getting non-English drivers off the road, and arresting illegal immigrants for deportation.  These industry leaders deserve help and support to make our highways safer and keep criminal activity off our roads.

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