Federal immigration authorities nabbed nearly 100 illegal migrants driving 18-wheelers off a single highway as the Trump administration continues to crack down on migrant commercial drivers.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, working alongside the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, arrested 91 illegal migrants operating a commercial motor vehicle with commercial driver licenses (CDL) during a three-day operation along I-40, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) revealed to the Daily Caller News Foundation. Altogether, deportation officers took 120 illegal migrants into custody for immigration violations.
The Trump administration is crediting the 287(g) program, a partnership between local law enforcement and ICE, for the successful haul.
“ICE’s 287(g) program clearly demonstrates how federal and local law enforcement agencies can work together to make America safe again,” Madison Sheahan, ICE Deputy Director, said in a statement obtained by the DCNF. “Illegal aliens have no business operating 18 wheelers on America’s highways.”
“Our roads are now safer with these illegal aliens no longer behind the wheel,” Sheahan continued. “We encourage more state and local law enforcement to sign 287(g) agreements to help remove public safety threats and receive reimbursement funds available to our law enforcement partners.”
The operation — which spanned between September 22 and 25 — nabbed illegal migrants allegedly associated with money laundering, human smuggling, conspiracy to distribute cocaine, illegal re-entry into the U.S. and a litany of other alleged crimes, according to DHS. In addition to the highway operation, two illegal migrants were apprehended at a nearby marijuana grow operation.
The major bust follows a dramatic crackdown on foreign truckers as multiple serious crashes allegedly caused by illegal migrant commercial drivers grab national headlines.
An illegal migrant truck driver from India allegedly took an unlawful U-turn on a Florida turnpike in August, blocking all lanes and instantly killing three people in a car that smashed into his tractor-trailer. That same month in Maine, another illegal migrant driving a box truck ran off the road, causing two passengers to be hospitalized, amid other examples across the country.
“My daughter and family’s lives have been forever changed by the injuries and car crash that an illegal alien driving an 18-wheeler caused,” Marcus Coleman, whose five-year-old daughter was left with life-altering injuries after an illegal migrant driving a commercial truck caused a multi-wreck pile-up in California. “I’m proud to see ICE officers working together with highway patrol across the U.S. to protect our roads from criminal illegal aliens who pose a danger to Americans.”
“Illegal aliens should not be driving 18-wheelers on our highways, and neither should 18-year-olds or drivers who lack experience,” Coleman continued. “Governor Newsom’s California Department of Motor Vehicles needs to put in place stricter standards for who can obtain a commercial driver’s license before more people are killed and hurt.”
The Department of Transportation (DOT) announced in September that restrictions on non-domiciled CDLs for foreign nationals after a federal audit uncovered “catastrophic patterns” of states unlawfully issuing licenses to foreign truck drivers. Under the new directive, many non-citizens will not be given non-domiciled CDLs unless they meet a much stricter set of standards.
“What our team has discovered should disturb and anger every American,” DOT Secretary Sean Duffy said at the time. “Licenses to operate a massive, 80,000-pound truck are being issued to dangerous foreign drivers – often times illegally.”
“This is a direct threat to the safety of every family on the road, and I won’t stand for it,” Duffy went on. “Today’s actions will prevent unsafe foreign drivers from renewing their license and hold states accountable to immediately invalidate improperly issued licenses.”
Non-domiciled CDLs are issued by state governments to individuals who are not residents of that state, usually applying to foreign nationals, according to FreightWaves. The term typically applies to any person who isn’t an American citizen or green card holder who obtains a CDL in a state where they are not a resident.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to include comment from Marcus Coleman.
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