The DOT obviously represents the trucking industry's major regulatory dance partner, but increasingly over the last year, the Department of Homeland Security has taken a big interest in trucking, specifically on the immigration enforcement front.
Since President Donald Trump took office, DHS has impacted trucking in some unprecedented ways.
- Multiple immigration raids on the interstates, including naming and shaming states for giving CDLs to "illegal aliens"
- Partnering with state law enforcement for immigration enforcement
- Changing rules for work authorizations for non-citizens
- "Nearly 3 million illegal aliens" deported or otherwise gone from the U.S. "because of the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration," according to DHS.
But in early March, a major shakeup among DHS' top brass took effect.
Kristi Noem, the previous head of the department, has left to become the "Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas," a group of North and South American countries where she hopes to "dismantle cartels that have poured drugs into our country killing our children and grandchildren," according to a release on March 5.
Noem's Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin, who often gave quotes when ICE apprehended "illegal alien" truck drivers, departed the agency in mid-February.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the branch of DHS that most directly impacts trucking by pulling drivers off the road in immigration raids, also has shed some top people. Madison Sheahan, the 29 year old who became deputy director of ICE and helped oversee its $9 billion budget, has left the agency to run for Congress in Ohio.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Oklahoma)
Mullin will be subject to a Senate hearing and confirmation first, but Trump said he's targeting March 31 as a start date.
Overdrive readers may recall Mullin from his near fistfight with Teamsters President Sean O'Brien at two separate Senate hearings.
O'Brien and Mullin have since buried the hatchet, but Mullin, a former plumbing company owner who ran a fleet of service vehicles and an undefeated MMA fighter (5-0), might have some hits left in him when it comes to trucking.
Mullin in 2025 introduced legislation in the Senate intending to protect consumer choice in the face of moves by California to limit the sale of internal combustion engine cars and trucks. Back in 2013 as a member of the House, Mullin argued in favor of letting states decide the weight limits of trucks.
It's unclear if Mullin will continue the immigration crackdown in trucking exactly as his predecessor did, but early indications show DHS continues to conduct business as usual.
Under Noem, DHS made it a priority to "work with" the DOT "to root out and prevent illegal aliens from obtaining these licenses from sanctuary jurisdictions that put American drivers and passengers in danger."
[Related: 'Every foreign truck driver's worst nightmare': Courts can't stop Trump, DOT's immigration crackdown]
Oklahoma, Mullin's home state, was one of the first and most aggressive to partner with DHS on initiating immigration removal proceedings of non-citizen truckers at roadside.
Additionally, the state in 2025 passed a bill instituting $3,000 fines for drivers who can't speak English or prove their identity.
A bill in consideration right now in Oklahoma's state house would outright ban non-domiciled CDL and commercial learner’s permit holders from operating within state lines.
