Opinion

REP BRIAN MAST: I want unsafe truckers off our highways — and America's veterans in their seats

Veterans have the discipline, precision, accountability and experience that trucking demands

By Rep. Brian Mast Fox News

Published August 12, 2026 5:00am EDT

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Trump promotes Freedom Haulers Initiative to fast-track veterans into trucking jobs

Program streamlines CDL licensing for veterans with military driving experience as administration touts crackdown on illegal immigrant commercial drivers.

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One year ago this week, three Floridians senselessly lost their lives on Florida’s Turnpike near Fort Pierce due to the complete and utter recklessness of a truck driver with an illegal CDL license. If you are a foreign national driving a commercial truck in America, you should have to meet the same basic safety requirements as everyone else. 

Three people died for doing nothing more than simply driving down the highway when a tractor-trailer driver made an illegal U-turn through an access point, cutting across traffic and leaving an approaching minivan with nowhere to go.

Their families will carry that loss for the rest of their lives.

ILLEGAL ALIEN FAILED CDL TEST 10 TIMES IN 2 MONTHS BEFORE FATAL FLORIDA CRASH THAT KILLED 3

We cannot bring those Americans back. But we can decide who drives on our highways and whether their senseless deaths are going to be another tragedy we forget — or a warning that finally forces us to fix a broken system.

I choose the latter.

America should not lower our standards to accommodate foreign nationals who cannot meet basic commercial-driving requirements. Full stop. Shortsighted state policies and lax federal oversight, like California issuing Non-Domiciled CDLs without rigorous verification of legal work status or language skills, are endangering each and every American citizen.

The Trump administration has made clear that Freedom Haulers is part of a broader effort to crack down on dangerous foreign drivers, restore integrity to the trucking industry, and give our veterans good-paying jobs here at home.

And this doesn’t have to be the case. We have the best trained drivers in the world. American veterans already possess the discipline, training, and experience needed on the road, and I can’t think of better training for our commercial trucking industry.

SEC SEAN DUFFY: FREEDOM HAULERS PUTS VETERANS IN THE DRIVERS' SEATS OF NEW CAREERS

That is what President Trump’s Freedom Haulers initiative is about, and that’s why I’m proud to introduce the bill........

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