Trucking news and briefs for Friday, Oct. 31, 2025:
- Immigration enforcement efforts in Indiana have led to the arrest of more than 40 "illegal alien" CDL holders.
- The back-and-forth between OEMs and CARB over an agreement continues with new litigation.
ICE arrests 46 truck drivers in Indiana operation
As part of the Trump administration’s ongoing immigration enforcement efforts, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced Thursday, Oct. 30, that it conducted an operation with Indiana State Police that led to the arrest of 223, including more than 40 CDL holders.
The announcement was the second 287(g) operation in recent months in which Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers train state law enforcement on immigration matters and delegate immigration officer functions to the state troopers. The first such operation was announced in late September, when 130 truck drivers were taken off the roads in Oklahoma.
The recent Indiana operation, DHS said, took place in Northwest Indiana and was part of the Chicago-based Operation Midway Blitz. DHS said in its announcement that of the 223 arrested, 146 were truck drivers. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a press conference that among those drivers, “that includes 46 semi-truck drivers, and another 82 of them that were either box trucks, buses, moving vans, vehicles such as that.”
This non-domiciled CDL was one of three made public by DHS that officials said were among the 46 issued to "illegal aliens."U.S. Department of Homeland Security
[Related: ICE and Oklahoma's I-40 raid: Trump's immigration crackdown sets sights on trucking]
Noem noted that CDLs issued to those individuals were from more than a dozen different states, but the top three states were Illinois, California and New York.
“Far too many innocent Americans have been killed by illegal aliens driving semi-trucks and big rigs,” Noem said. “And yet, sanctuary states around the country have been issuing illegal aliens commercial driver’s licenses. The Trump Administration is ending the chaos."
DHS’s announcement coincided with a press conference from Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on Thursday that offered an update on DOT’s non-domiciled CDL investigation, along with an announcement that DOT and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration would soon be looking into “CDL mills” that allow unqualified drivers to obtain CDLs.
[Related: DOT vows 'serious consequences' for CDL mills, carriers, shippers hiring 'illegal alien' drivers]
CARB countersues truck makers for alleged breach of contract over Clean Truck Partnership
The California Air Resources Board hopes to turn the tables on four truck manufacturers with a lawsuit against the OEMs alleging breach of contract over their Clean Truck Partnership agreement with the state.
CARB claimed in its suit that it believes Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA), International Motors, Paccar and Volvo Group North America (VGNA), "have already or will soon breach the terms of the contract requiring them to sell clean vehicles in California, but even if any Defendant has not yet or does not soon breach the terms of the contract, all defendants have unambiguously stated that they do not intend to comply with the sales commitment terms of the Contract."
California’s lawsuit follows a lawsuit filed by the OEMs in August against CARB, in which the truck makers claimed that despite the Congressional Review Acts passed this year preempting California’s emissions standards, the state “continues to demand compliance with its heavy-duty emissions standards, and it has threatened OEMs that design, develop, manufacture and sell heavy-duty vehicles and engines ... with civil sanctions and unfavorable regulatory treatment if the OEMs refuse to comply with the state’s unlawful standards, while also taking measures to insulate itself from lawful challenges to those standards.”
[Related: Top truck makers sue CARB/California over enforcement of Clean Truck Partnership]
The Department of Justice has been on the OEMs’ side of the argument so far. A DOJ letter to the OEMs called the CTP “an illegal attempt to enforce preempted state vehicle emission regulations” and ordered the manufacturers to “immediately cease and desist your compliance with both the Clean Truck Partnership and its preempted state vehicle emission regulations.”
DOJ also filed motions in August to join two lawsuits against CARB over the CTP, including the suit brought by the OEMs.
CARB’s new lawsuit “is an effort by CARB to forum shop in California state court to further protect the failed policies of the unelected bureaucrats who refused to listen to the trucking manufacturers, fleets, and dealers who told them their regulations were unattainable," Clean Freight Coalition Executive Director Jim Mullen told Overdrive sister publication CCJ’s Jason Cannon. "This is what happens when political dogma is the foundation for policy. While California continues with this unnecessary and expensive political-turned-legal drama, the trucking industry will continue to move the country’s freight and collaborate with stakeholders on improving truck emissions."
Read more from CCJ's Cannon here.
[Related: Trump DOJ motions to join lawsuits challenging CARB's OEM partnership]
