What to Know About ‘Dalilah Law,’ Trump’s Proposal to Target Undocumented Immigrants’ Driver’s Licenses
During his State of the Union address, Donald Trump railed against “illegal aliens,” blaming them for America’s drug problems, corruption, and even traffic incidents. Citing the case of a young girl who was severely injured after being hit by a truck driven by an undocumented immigrant, the President urged lawmakers to pass a law that would bar undocumented immigrants from obtaining commercial driver’s licenses.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]Named after the girl, Dalilah Coleman, “Dalilah Law” appears to be the latest effort by the White House to tie immigration enforcement to public safety, though there is no indication that a specific bill has been formally introduced in Congress.
Coleman, now seven-years-old, and her father Marcus were in attendance at the Tuesday night address.
“Dalilah Coleman was only five years old in June 2024 when a 18-wheel tractor trailer plowed into her stopped car, traveling at 60 miles an hour or more. The driver was an illegal alien, let in by Joe Biden and given a commercial driver’s license by open-borders politicians in California,” Trump said. “Many, if not most, illegal aliens, do not speak English and cannot read even the most basic road signs as to direction, speed, danger, or location.”
“That’s why tonight I’m calling on Congress to pass what we will call the Dalilah Law, barring any state from granting commercial driver’s licenses to illegal aliens,” Trump added as his announcement was met with a standing ovation from most Republicans in the room, while most Democrats remained seated.
Under current rules, immigrants who are not legally in the U.S. are already not allowed to obtain commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs), although some states offer them standard, non-commercial driver’s licenses. Federal oversight has found that some states have improperly issued CDLs to non-citizens without proper legal status or who have failed to revoke CDLs from immigrants whose documentation had expired. As of Tuesday night, it was unclear what Trump’s proposal would exactly seek to do.
Here’s what we know so far about “Dalilah Law.”
What is the proposal and how does it compare to previous measures?
The “Dalilah Law” is a proposed federal statute that, if passed by Congress, would bar all undocumented immigrants nationwide from receiving state-issued commercial driver’s licenses. It is not yet certain the scope of the law or when it will be introduced to Congress. TIME has reached out to the White House for comment.
According to a post by Coleman’s father, the law would require all commercial vehicles to display a permanent business name that is reflective, visible up to 100 feet away, and is not magnetized without a permit.
The proposal builds on a pattern of Trump Administration policies that aim to restrict access to driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced earlier this week that all truckers and bus drivers will be required to take their commercial driver’s license tests in English as part of an effort to ensure drivers are sufficiently able to read road signs and communicate with law enforcement officers.
“Many, if not most illegal aliens, do not speak English and cannot read even the most basic road signs as to direction, speed, danger, or location,” Trump said during his State of the Union speech. As of 2016, according to Pew, 34% of unauthorized immigrants were proficient in English, compared to 57% of lawful immigrants, though at the time English proficiency among unauthorized immigrants was on the rise.
Several states, including California, currently allow drivers to take their tests in other languages although they are also required to demonstrate proficiency in English. The Transportation Department also announced earlier this month that more than 550 commercial driving schools across the country must close for failing to meet safety standards.
In September, the Transportation Department also moved to tighten requirements for commercial driver’s licenses for non-citizens, including restricting the issuance of new licenses to three categories of visa-holders and requiring states to verify the immigration status of license-seekers in a federal database. A District of Columbia court temporarily blocked the restrictions in November, ruling that the federal government failed to “articulate a satisfactory explanation for how the rule would promote safety.”
Last week, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration implemented the finalized rules, effective March 16, with largely the same restrictions, limiting the issuance of commercial driver’s licenses for non-citizens to holders of H-2A, H-2B, and E-2 visas. That effectively restricts people granted asylum, refugees, and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients with work authorization from obtaining commercial driver’s licenses.
After federal efforts to narrow eligibility for non-citizens seeking commercial driver’s licenses, some states followed suit. Texas stopped issuing certain commercial driver’s licenses to refugees, asylees, and DACA recipients at the end of September. Meanwhile, Florida has considered out-of-state driver’s licenses—not just commercial ones—issued to undocumented immigrants invalid since 2023. Wyoming, Tennessee, and several more Republican-led states have enacted or are weighing similar bans.
Last February, the Department of Justice also filed a civil complaint challenging New York’s Green Light Law, which allows all New Yorkers above the age of 16, regardless of immigration status, to apply for a standard, non-commercial driver’s license. The law also requires that license holders are informed when immigration enforcement agencies request data from the DMV. A federal judge in December rejected the Trump Administration’s challenge.
What prompted the proposal?
The latest legislative push was prompted by a car accident in California in June 2024 that left Coleman, then five-years-old, with a traumatic brain injury and cerebral palsy, according to the White House. The driver had unlawfully entered the U.S. in October 2022 and was driving a semi-truck, which requires a commercial driver’s license, through a construction zone when he failed to stop, according to the Department of Homeland Security. DHS identified the driver as Partap Singh, an Indian national, who was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Aug. 29 and remains in ICE custody pending immigration proceedings.
Coleman suffered critical injuries, including a broken femur and skull fractures, and was in a coma for three weeks, her family told DHS. She was unable to walk, talk, or eat for months, but after months of treatment, she is now attending the first grade and learning to walk again, Trump said in his address. Coleman’s stepfather Michael Krause was also hospitalized after the crash, according to DHS.
Who would it impact?
As of late last year, 19 states, including California, New York, and Illinois, and the District of Columbia allow undocumented immigrants to obtain ordinary driver’s licenses, which are limited for federal use and are not considered to be Real IDs for federal identification.
Commercial driver’s licenses are regulated by both state and federal standards, which means that immigrants in all states have to meet federal safety, testing, and residency requirements under the Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration regulations in order to obtain a CDL. States can issue non-domiciled CDLs to non-citizens who are legally allowed to live and work in the U.S. One estimate from last year suggests there were at least 60,000 CDLs issued to non-domiciled drivers. According to data from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, non-domiciled CDL holders account for around 5% of all commercial driver’s license holders.
In at least some cases, immigrants were issued CDLs while on lawful status in the U.S. but held onto those licenses even after their status had lapsed. California, for example, said in November that it would revoke 17,000 CDLs after an audit found that those drivers were no longer legally allowed in the U.S.
It is not clear how many undocumented immigrants currently hold CDLs in all states.
What have supporters and critics said?
The Trump Administration and supporters of similar measures to the latest proposal point to vehicular crashes, including at least three fatal accidents last year, that involved undocumented immigrants. Proponents of restricting undocumented immigrants’ access to driver’s licenses argue that immigrants are not always able to read road signs that are in English, leading to preventable road accidents. But according to Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration data, immigrants with CDLs account for around 0.2% of all fatal crashes.
“Many illegal aliens do NOT speak English and cannot read basic road signs — and they have NO business being on our nation’s roads,” DHS posted on X on Tuesday night.
Rep. Keith Self (R, Texas) called the law “common sense.”Critics of such measures, on the other hand, contend that restricting licensing access for undocumented immigrants can in fact harm public safety because these residents may drive anyway but without formal training or a legal license. Critics point to the fact that many immigrants often rely on driving for work, including for car-share or food delivery services.