Donald Trump Launches Major Crackdown On Illegal Truck Drivers, Prioritises Veterans For New Jobs

Washington: US President Donald Trump has announced the launch of a new initiative regarding employment and national security. The aim of this scheme named 'Freedom Haulers' is to provide employment to ex-servicemen retired from the army as truck drivers and to intensify action against foreign truck drivers working illegally.

Trump said that this initiative will not only provide respectable employment to veterans but will also help in making American roads safer.

What will happen in the 'Freedom Haulers' scheme?

Under the new scheme, special emphasis will be laid on recruiting ex-servicemen who have retired from the army as commercial truck drivers. They will also be given priority and necessary assistance in the process of obtaining a Commercial Driver's License (CDL), so that they can start employment as soon as possible.

What did Trump say about illegal truck drivers?

In the presence of transportation secretary Sean Duffy and acting labour secretary Keith Sonderling, Trump said the administration's goal is to remove people from American roads who are living in the country illegally and driving trucks. In their place, qualified and trained American ex-servicemen will be given the opportunity.

According to him, this step will not only increase employment but will also strengthen national security.

Why were more than 24 thousand licenses cancelled?

According to the US Department of Transportation, more than 24,000 commercial driving licenses (CDL) have been revoked following strict enforcement of English language proficiency rules.

The department says that during the investigation, rules were not followed in many cases, after which action was taken.

What did the investigation reveal?

According to the Transport Department, the investigation revealed cases of commercial driving licences being wrongly issued to more than 28,000 non-citizen truck drivers. After this, the concerned licences were cancelled, and further investigation into the matter is underway.

The Trump administration claims that in future the process of issuing licences will be made more transparent and strict so that only eligible candidates are allowed to drive commercial vehicles.