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U.S. shuts 110 truck-driving schools over English-language violations
🇵🇾 Paraguay /Culture & Society

U.S. shuts 110 truck-driving schools over English-language violations

From ABC Color · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Newswire Official statement Approved/passed
  • Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced the emergency closure of 110 U.S. commercial-driver schools linked to violations of federal English-language requirements.
  • The department also shut 160 centers that allegedly lacked adequate training space, licensed instructors or classrooms.
  • Officials said the enforcement drive has removed more than 28,000 drivers without English proficiency from U.S. roads and canceled more than 30,000 illegally issued licenses.

The U.S. Transportation Department has closed 110 commercial-driver schools after identifying them as the centers with the most serious irregularities involving English-language requirements.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the schools were responsible for 5,000 violations related to English proficiency. Federal rules require drivers to speak English to operate commercial vehicles, and Duffy said the requirement had been in place for decades.

“Some schools know the rule but still approve students who do not speak the language,” Duffy said. The department identified the schools through a data analysis and ordered their closure, he said.

Some schools know the rule but still approve students who do not speak the language.

— Sean DuffyThe transportation secretary criticized schools for certifying commercial drivers who failed to meet the English-language requirement.

Officials also closed 160 other centers that claimed to train truck drivers but lacked basic facilities. Some did not have enough space for applicants to board a truck, maneuver around cones or practice turns. Others employed unlicensed instructors or did not have classrooms.

The action forms part of a broader effort by President Donald Trump’s administration to tighten commercial-driver licensing. Over the past year and a half, the Transportation Department says it has removed more than 28,000 drivers without English proficiency from the roads and required states to cancel more than 30,000 licenses issued illegally to foreign drivers. It has also removed more than 8,000 training schools from its records after determining they were unqualified.

The department announced a partnership with the Department of Homeland Security in July to intensify efforts against fraudulent and illegal practices at commercial-driver training centers. In February, the Republican administration said truck and bus drivers would have to take licensing exams in English, ending options in several states to sit written tests in other languages, including Florida and California, where exams had been available in at least 20 languages.

Through a data analysis, we identified 110 schools that currently show the greatest irregularities. Those schools have been closed.

— Sean DuffyDuffy explained how officials selected the schools for emergency closure.
About this summary

Originally published by ABC Color in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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