Kristi Noem, a self-proclaimed experienced truck driver, recently emphasized the dangers posed by “foreigners” who drive tractor-trailers. The Secretary of Homeland Security claimed that their inability to “communicate” like Americans is what puts everybody on the road in danger.
The 53-year-old was heard claiming that she was an experienced semi-truck driver. During a press conference in South Dakota, she noted that driving trucks requires the driver to be skilled as well as excellent at communicating with other drivers on the road.
With that line of reasoning, she immediately ruled out “foreigners” from being good drivers. During a conference in Gary, Indiana, she doubled down on her claim about how putting immigrants behind these trucks is an act endangering everyone else’s lives as well.
“Putting them behind the wheel of these tractor-trailers weighing tens of thousands of pounds loaded with explosive fuel down the highway endangers every single citizen that is on our roads,” she added.
Members of the Trump administration seem to have set their minds on minimizing immigrant truck drivers and have been taking steps to ensure the same for months. Marco Rubio has played a significant part in the effort.
Kristi Noem: “Putting these foreigners in tracker trailers like the ones you see behind me becomes extremely dangerous. I have driven semis over many many years and 18 wheelers and understand they’re difficult to stop, maneuver.” pic.twitter.com/2QA8l7EpO2
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 30, 2025
The Secretary of State urged the White House to stop issuing work visas for commercial truck drivers in August. After a month, he issued an emergency regulation that would reduce the number of licenses given to immigrants by a significant amount.
The government supported their decision by claiming that the immigrants caused three dangerous truck crashes. Reuters reports that an immigrant is required to undergo a mandatory federal immigration status check in order to get a license.
Laws should be enforced. No one disagrees with that, but Noem’s argument here is not a good one.
Just bc someone isn’t American, it does not follow that they cannot drive a semi. Just bc one is, it doesn’t follow that they can.
And we all know from Noem’s book that she…
— Amy Coplan (@amycoplan) October 30, 2025
Sean Duffy cornered the state of California by revealing that he would push to get their $160 million funding stopped. He accused the state of illegally giving commercial driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants.
“So you have 60,000 people on the roads who shouldn’t have licenses,” the Transportation Secretary said in a conference on Sunday. He claimed that the same people are being entrusted with driving fuel tankers and school buses. Duffy claimed that “some” crashes on the American roadways were caused by the same people “who shouldn’t have these licenses.”
The claim was refuted by a spokesperson of the California Department of Motor Vehicles. The employee noted that the claim”has no legitimate basis,” and another made-up reason to withhold the funding.
“The federal government previously allowed commercial driver’s licenses for asylum seekers and refugees, and on September 26, announced emergency regulations to cease this practice that went into effect on September 29, “Eva Spiegel said in an interview with NBC.
