Indiana’s New Rules for Migrant Truckers

Indiana’s pulling the plug on commercial driver’s licenses for immigrants without valid work visas – and it’s happening fast, with all affected licenses expiring at midnight Wednesday.

Lt. Governor Micah Beckwith just announced that from now on, all non-citizen CDL applications need one of three approved work visas, and drivers must prove they can speak English. It’s about time, considering the disturbing encounters with truckers who couldn’t read road signs or communicate in English.

The Consequences of Hiring Illegal Drivers

Employers who knowingly hire illegal drivers without a valid CDL will face a $50,000 fine. That’s a hefty price to pay for putting people’s lives at risk.

Beckwith says this is a step in the right direction, making Indiana’s streets safer for everyone. Let’s hope it’s not too little, too late. Deadly crashes involving drivers in the US illegally or with fake CDLs have been reported nationwide.

There was the case of Singh Sukhdeep, an illegal immigrant truck driver from India who allegedly ran a red light, causing a fatal crash in Hendricks County, Indiana. He got his commercial driver’s license in May 2025, despite being caught and released after crossing the US border illegally in 2018. What’s wrong with this picture?

And then there’s Harjinder Singh, another illegal immigrant from India, who was charged after a tractor-trailer crash left three people dead in Florida. He allegedly made an illegal U-turn on the Florida Turnpike, blocking all lanes of the highway and causing the crash. His brother, Harneet Singh, was riding shotgun at the time of the crash.