Operation SafeDRIVE: Hundreds of truckers unable to understand English pulled from America’s roads
In recent months there have been many roadway tragedies that have cost lives across America caused by illegal immigrant truck drivers who are unable to speak and read English, or have some other disqualification that makes them dangerous to be behind the wheel of big rigs on America’s roads.
The problems are blamed mostly on states like California that will grant truckers licenses even if they are unqualified or incompetent.
But now hundreds have been taken off the highways. Some 500 were unable to show that they could read or understand the English language.
The latest episode of what’s called Operation SafeDRIVE, which stands for “distracted, reckless, impaired, visibility enforcement,” ran for three days on trucking routes in 26 states.
“Operation SafeDRIVE shows what happens when we work together with our law enforcement partners to pull unqualified drivers and vehicles off American roads,” explained Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy in a report posted at Fox News.
“We need a whole-of-government approach to ensure the Trump administration’s strong standards of safety are in place to protect American families and reduce road accidents.”
The report said the program conducted more than 8,200 inspections and 704 drivers were taken off the road as a result. Some 500 failed to show basic competency in English.
Also, more than 1,200 vehicles were found to be unsafe, and 56 people were arrested, some for drunken driving.
A recent tragedy developed in Indiana where a driver who entered the country illegally using Joe Biden’s CBP-1 app to gain access and who had gotten a license in Pennsylvania, “failed to brake for stopped traffic … crossed the median and slammed into oncoming traffic,” the report said.
Four victims died.
That driver, Bekzhan Beishekeev, is a Kyrgyz national.
Federal highway safety spokesman Derek Barrs told Fox, “When drivers ignore the rules, operate without proper qualifications, or get behind the wheel impaired, they put all of our lives at risk.”
The level of fraud in the licensing process left some surprised. For example, an Indian national was arrested at a weigh station in Oklahoma and found to be in the country illegally. His New York State license listed him as “NO NAME.”
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox that’s what happens when New York fails to check “if applicants applying to drive 18-wheelers are U.S. citizens but even failing to obtain the full legal names of individuals they are issuing commercial drivers’ licenses to.”
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