Eight people were arrested in Bay County, Florida, last month in connection with a scheme where DMV employees sold driver’s licenses to illegal aliens for cash – no tests, no questions asked. That case is just one example of a nationwide problem of illegal aliens obtaining driver’s licenses – a development that poses a major threat to both election integrity and public safety.
Authorities say undocumented immigrants traveled from across Florida to buy licenses from DMV employees who took cash in exchange for skipping required tests. Surveillance footage confirmed that individuals received driver’s licenses without completing the legally required tests. The arrests include both DMV workers and intermediaries, all now facing charges ranging from official misconduct to unlawful possession of a driver’s license.
“Florida’s sheriffs are on the front lines of our state’s fight against illegal immigration, and Sheriff Ford is rooting out the corruption they bring into our state,” Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said following the bust in Bay County, home to Panama City Beach. “We are going to find you, hold you accountable, and then send you back to where you came from.”
The Bay County case is just the latest example of a broader vulnerability in the nation’s licensing system – particularly when it comes to commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs), required to operate most semi-trucks and buses. In one recent case, a driver linked to a $1.6 million cargo heist had a California-issued CDL with the first name listed as “No Name Given.”
That story has placed heightened scrutiny on California’s license-issuing procedures in particular – and how those procedures threaten the sanctity of the ballot box. As election integrity activist Cleta Mitchell pointed out on X, “These same driver’s license agencies are registering people to vote. How much effort do you think they put into verifying citizenship of those they’re adding to CA voter rolls?”
Another significant danger of handing out driver’s licenses to unqualified illegal aliens is that many don’t have the requisite English language skills to safely operate a motor vehicle – a problem that is particularly terrifying when it comes to CDLs. A recent Overdrive survey found that 40 percent of respondents estimate more than a quarter of commercial drivers on American roads can’t meet the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s English language standards.
Truckers see the problem firsthand. Industry forums and Overdrive’s survey are filled with stories of English-speaking drivers unable to communicate at weigh stations, loading docks, or in emergencies. Some drivers describe the hazards of working alongside colleagues who can’t ask basic safety questions or understand routing instructions. Others point to operational slowdowns and confusion that ripple through the supply chain.
As one fleet owner responded to the Overdrive survey, “Every single day on the road you run into someone that can’t speak a word of English.”
In April, President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at tightening the enforcement of English language requirements for commercial drivers. The order instructs the Department of Transportation to scrap previous guidance that had relaxed enforcement, requiring that drivers who fail English proficiency standards be taken off the road. It also calls for a review of state-issued commercial licenses, particularly those granted to non-citizens, to spot irregularities and close loopholes.
Directives under the Obama and Biden administrations effectively allowed English requirements to be ignored for CDL recipients, contributing to a dramatic rise in unqualified drivers. The new order directs federal officials to work with states to ensure that anyone behind the wheel of a commercial vehicle meets minimum standards, not just for language, but for basic competency and safety. Trump’s directive frames English fluency as a basic public safety measure, essential for reading signs, following instructions, and communicating with authorities.
But the problem of unqualified migrant drivers who shouldn’t have licenses in the first place is not limited to the trucking industry. It has also spilled over into local streets and neighborhoods, putting entire communities at risk.
In Springfield, Ohio, residents say an influx of Haitian migrants, many reportedly driving with minimal or no training, has led to a spike in crashes, injuries, and even fatalities, according to the New York Post. Residents report up to ten accidents a day and describe a city where “cars drive up into buildings and onto sidewalks.”
In December 2023, a 71-year-old woman in Springfield was killed while collecting her trash cans, struck by a Haitian migrant driver with expired plates who faced no charges. The woman was hit so hard that her socks were left on the pavement and her body was thrown across the street. The police report described debris scattered along the roadway and noted clumps of hair embedded in the car’s cracked windshield.
In August of that year, 11-year-old Aiden Clark was also killed after a 36-year-old Haitian migrant without a valid U.S. license caused the school bus he was riding to overturn, crushing him beneath the vehicle. The crash sent at least 20 other children to the hospital.
In Columbus, just an hour east of Springfield, more than 65 vehicles have crashed into buildings in 2025 alone.
Since late 2022, neighborhoods near migrant shelters in Staten Island, New York, have also seen a surge in unlicensed, unregistered drivers, turning quiet streets into a “demolition derby,” according to the Post. Calls for reform have grown, with residents urging lawmakers to require all new drivers, citizen or alien, to pass the same tests and meet the same standards.
While the Trump administration is working to deport illegal aliens and enforce the rules and regulations of the road, the problem ultimately starts at the local level with individual DMV offices. If someone can’t read road signs or hasn’t passed a basic competency test, safe driving is impossible. Until DMVs enforce the law, both public safety and trust in the system will remain at risk.
Sarah Katherine Sisk is a proud Hillsdale College alumna and a master’s student in economics at George Mason University. You can follow her on X @SKSisk76.
Read the full article here