The U.S. Department of Transportation on Thursday announced a joint operation with the Department of Homeland Security cracking down "on fraudulent and illegal practices" from CDL schools suspected of helping non-citizen drivers qualify for CDLs.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration identified "approximately 75 entry-level driving training schools suspected of fraudulent activities, including using improper driver certifications, falsifying training records, and failing to properly train drivers applying for CDLs, among other violations," a DOT release read.
DOT said it would engage DHS’s Homeland Security Investigations to investigate the schools.
DOT in December initiated in-person audits of some 1,500 CDL schools, and later eliminated 500 from the training provider registry.
FMCSA has now removed more than 9,800 CDL schools from the TPR. Between 2023 and April 2025, only four had been removed, causing CDL school trade unions to write a letter calling for stricter enforcement.
[Related: CDL schools call out 'threat' of 'unscrupulous training entities']
CDL schools, like ELD providers and medical examiners, "self-certify" compliance with federal regs, something FMCSA Administrator Derek Barrs has vowed to end.
Many of those 9,800 schools had been simply inactive, Overdrive reporting found, but DOT said having DHS law enforcement personnel has helped make progress on FMCSA's stated mission of cleaning up the TPR.
“USDOT has spent the last year rooting out bad actors from our trucking industry,” said DOT Secretary Sean Duffy. “We've knocked over 24,000 drivers off our roads for failing to speak English, forced states to cancel over 28,000 licenses illegally issued to foreign drivers, and purged over 9,500 unqualified training schools from our FMCSA registry. DHS will be a force multiplier of our efforts to clean up America's roads. President Trump is using every lever at his disposal to ensure the safety of American families.”
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin also stressed the cross-department partnership, and mentioned non-citizen drivers, though they should not be eligible for CDLs under FMCSA's February Final Rule.
“Too many American lives have been lost in completely avoidable accidents because illegal aliens have been granted commercial driver’s licenses to drive trucks and 18-wheelers on America’s roadways,” Mullin said. “DHS law enforcement is partnering with the Department of Transportation to eliminate CDL fraud, strengthen the integrity of the CDL system, and investigate commercial driver’s license schools throughout the country. This is a whole of government approach, to keep America’s roads safe.”
