The United States Department of Transportation has threatened to withhold federal funding from three states unless they add English proficiency as a requirement for commercial truck drivers.

On Tuesday, the Transportation Department made the call to potentially withhold funding from the states of California, New Mexico and Washington.

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The administration of President Donald Trump has taken a series of steps to address concerns about foreign truck drivers who do not speak English. Last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States was immediately pausing the issuance of all worker visas for commercial truck drivers.

In April, Trump signed an executive order directing the enforcement of a rule requiring commercial drivers in the US to meet English proficiency standards.

Limited violations

The Transportation Department said California has conducted roughly 34,000 inspections that found at least one violation since the new language standards took effect, requiring truck drivers to be able to recognise and read road signs and communicate with authorities in English.

But only one inspection involved an English language rules violation that resulted in a driver being taken out of service. And 23 drivers with violations in other states were allowed to continue driving after inspections in California.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy cited similar statistics for the other states, with Washington finding more than 6,000 violations of safety rules during inspections, but only pulling four drivers out of service for English language violations. New Mexico has not placed any drivers out of service since the rules took effect.

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Penalties increase

In May, Duffy outlined the requirements that would place those truck drivers who fail to meet those requirements out of service.

“Americans are a lot safer on roads alongside truckers who can understand and interpret our traffic signs. This common-sense change ensures the penalty for failure to comply is more than a slap on the wrist,” Duffy said.

Duffy said the department could withhold about $50m in federal funding if they do not comply within 30 days and could take further actions.

The states did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Last week, Duffy said the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has launched an investigation into a crash on a Florida highway that killed three people. The crash involved a driver who was an Indian national and did not speak English or have legal authorisation to be in the United States, according to Florida and US officials. The investigation found the three states were not enforcing the rules, Duffy said.

Driver Harjinder Singh has been charged with three counts of vehicular homicide. Police said he attempted to make an illegal U-turn through an “Official Use Only” access point, blocking traffic and causing the fatal crash after a minivan struck his truck.

While the English-proficiency standard for truckers was already longstanding US law, Trump’s executive order in April reversed 2016 guidance that inspectors not place commercial drivers out of service if their only violation was a lack of English.

Duffy said failing to adequately enforce driver qualification standards poses serious safety concerns and increases the likelihood of crashes.

FMCSA said in 2023 that about 16 percent of US truck drivers were born outside the United States.

American Trucking Associations CEO Chris Spear praised Duffy’s announcement, saying, “Every commercial driver operating in the United States must be able to read road signs, communicate with law enforcement, and understand safety instructions.

English was only designated as the official language of the United States in March.