The two truck drivers are the first reportedly affected by an update to federal standards
- Two Alabama truckers were ticketed under a revived English proficiency rule.
- The law dates to the 1930s and was reinstated by Trump in April 2025.
- Supporters call it a safety measure, but critics warn of discrimination.
Police in DeKalb, Alabama, recently ticketed two drivers who didn’t speak English. While that might raise questions, the key issue wasn’t their language skills alone; it was the fact that both were operating semi trucks. Federal law has long required commercial truck drivers to read and write in English.
After a previous relaxation of that rule, the Trump administration reinstated stricter enforcement in June. These two drivers are the first known to receive citations under the renewed policy.
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Interestingly, this guidance about speaking and reading English dates back almost 100 years to the 1930s. In 2016, the Obama administration gave the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration a new direction. It said not to place a driver out of service if the only violation they committed was a lack of English language proficiency. Donald Trump reversed that in April of this year.
Safety or Selective Enforcement?
According to WAFF, the tickets handed out to these two drivers resulted in them being taken off the road. One local bilingual truck driver said he wasn’t surprised.
“I think it would be a shock to a lot of people,” he said. “Drivers are out here on the road, they’re operating 80,000 lbs, and it’s super dangerous. And they can’t communicate, and they can’t read road signs; that’s where the safety part of it comes in. Being able to get those drivers off the road because they can’t read or write basic English.”
The problem might be bigger than most realize. According to Straight Arrow News, the FMCSA recorded over 15,000 English-language violations over just the past two years. That’s roughly 20 violations per day, every day, for 730 consecutive days. One study on truck driver demographics found that just under four percent of drivers on the road have limited English proficiency.
Supporters of the policy point to safety as the top priority. Critics, however, warn that stricter enforcement could open the door to discriminatory practices. For example, the Sikh Coalition worries that some drivers will get pulled over simply based on what they look like.
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“To be clear, the Sikh Coalition is not opposed to common sense safety reforms — including the obvious fact that all truckers must have basic English language skills to drive safely in the United States,” Mannirmal Kaur, Sikh Coalition Senior Federal Policy Manager, said. “We are committed, however, to working to ensure that any new rules resulting from this order do not disproportionately or discriminatorily impact Sikh and Punjabi truckers.”
As enforcement ramps up, the impact will likely draw more scrutiny, especially if it disproportionately affects immigrant drivers. One thing is clear, though: English proficiency isn’t just a guideline anymore. It’s a hard line that could be the difference between staying on the road and getting sidelined.
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