ICYMI: Homeland Republicans Examine Public Safety Threats from Issuance of Non-Domiciled CDLs to Illegal Aliens

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Last week, Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Accountability Chairman Josh Brecheen (R-OK) convened a hearing to examine the issuance of non-domiciled commercial driver's licenses (CDLs) to illegal aliens, as well as the serious public safety and national security risks associated with this practice.

Witness testimony was provided by Tim Tipton, Commissioner of the Oklahoma Department of Safety; Richard Del Toro Jr., Sheriff of St. Lucie County, Florida; and Wendy Liu, Attorney at Public Citizen Litigation Group. The Trump Administration's Department of Transportation has taken bold steps to tackle this issue on the federal level; however, witnesses emphasized the need for states to uniformly enforce federal standards to close regulatory gaps, improve verification standards, and streamline enforcement efforts to ensure safer roadways for Americans.

In his opening statement, Subcommittee Chairman Brecheen underscored the real-world dangers of issuing non-domiciled CDLs to illegal aliens and the need for cooperation between states and the federal government to reduce risks:

"As President Trump highlighted in his State of the Union address last week, this issue has had real and devastating consequences. In 2025 alone, at least 17 fatal crashes, resulting in 30 deaths, were caused by illegal aliens driving commercial vehicles with CDLs."

"These tragic incidents were caused by drivers who should never have been entrusted with a commercial driver's license in the first place. These individuals were unfit to hold that credential and, if sanctuary states would follow existing standards and laws, would not qualify to receive one. The human cost of these failures is painful. In June 2024, five-year old Dalilah Coleman was nearly killed when a tractor trailer driven by an illegal alien, carrying a fraudulent non-domiciled CDL, directly collided with the vehicle she was in."

"Although we are righting previous wrongs, we must remain vigilant. We must make sure that states enforce the laws and keep these licenses out of the hands of unqualified people who are unlawfully present. This is not only a matter of public safety, but also a matter of national security."

Subcommittee Chairman Brecheen then asked what enforcement measures are needed to protect the public, to which Commissioner Tipton testified:

"It's such a critical area that an employee authorization document is not sufficient to be able to then turn around and go get a CDL… It's obvious that the crackdown on the CDL mills-the schools that are supposedly safely training these folks-when our troopers encounter someone who has supposedly passed a test, has their CDL, and obviously can't read and speak English and understand the rules of the road, those schools have to be shut down…For the safety of everybody involved, both the motoring public on the CMV issue, the potential terrorist-type threat… The cooperation with ICE is critical and can be done in a calm, legitimate, legal way."

Rep. Vince Fong (R-CA) introduced his constituent, Dalilah Coleman, who suffered life-changing injuries caused by an illegal alien driver:

"In June 2024, in San Bernardino County, California, five-year-old Dalilah Coleman and her stepfather, Michael, were seriously injured in a multi-vehicle pileup caused by an illegal immigrant driving a commercial 18-wheeler, who sped through a construction zone and failed to stop for traffic. Dalilah suffered lifelong injuries, including cerebral palsy, developmental delays, and loss of speech. And she has now worked very hard to relearn how to walk. The driver who illegally entered the United States in October of 2022 was released under the Biden administration and held a California-issued CDL. This preventable tragedy forever altered Dalilah's bright future."

Rep. Fong then asked what role states play in preventing future tragedies, to which Commissioner Tipton testified:

"I think it's a multifaceted role that the states can play. One is working with ICE and these 287(g) task force models, which allow for state and local law enforcement to be able to verify immigration status. The problem that we run into on the roadside is that the person that we're talking to may have a facially valid CDL end date, and when you run that CDL through our law enforcement network system, it comes back as valid. But then, when we check on the immigration status, they're not here legally."

Rep. Matt Van Epps (R-TN) asked about what steps states can take to prevent the erroneous issuance of non-domiciled CDLs to illegal alien drivers and protect public safety, to which Sheriff Del Toro Jr. testified:

"Florida only issues licenses to drivers who are in the country legally. Licenses issued to non-citizens with temporary legal presence, non-domiciled, are valid for a year or the last date of the customer's legal status… Florida will also begin printing the words 'non-domiciled' on the license moving forward… Florida recently changed its policy that all driver's license testing, includes class C, or class E, correct, must be taken in English only… This isn't to hurt anybody that's here legally in our country. It's just a way to vet it out, increase our standards, which I think is our responsibility as elected officials to protect the public and enhance roadway safety."

Subcommittee on Emergency Management and Technology Chairman Dale Strong (R-AL) asked how lawmakers can ensure commercial drivers receive high-quality training and that licensing standards are being effectively enforced, to which Commissioner Tipton testified:

"It goes to every area of state coordination with the federal government. At the issuance, at the certification of schools who put on this training, and the ability to ensure that the training is of quality, and that the people who pass that training do understand the rules of the road and can read road signs and all the things that you just explained. On the enforcement side of it, we would not be able to do this work if it wouldn't be for the partnership that we have with the federal government… I believe it's incumbent upon us to work in a coordinated effort across multiple states at the same time, same type of operations, if you really want to get a true enforcement and make some true action on this."

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