Three U.S. states—California, Washington, and New Mexico—are facing a high-stakes ultimatum from the federal government: enforce English-language proficiency rules for commercial truck drivers within 30 days or risk losing a combined $50.5 million in federal transportation funding. The announcement, made on August 26, 2025, by U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, has ignited a fierce debate about road safety, immigration, and the responsibilities of both state and federal agencies.
Standing at the Department of Transportation’s Washington, D.C. headquarters, Secretary Duffy delivered the message with unmistakable urgency. Flanked by an “America First” banner and accompanied by Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) Chief Counsel Jesse Elison, Duffy detailed the consequences for noncompliance: California could lose $33 million, Washington $10.5 million, and New Mexico $7 million—all from the FMCSA, one of the smaller yet pivotal agencies within the Transportation Department.
"We don’t want to take away money from states," Duffy insisted, as reported by States Newsroom. "But we will take money away and we will take additional steps that get progressively more difficult for these states. There’s a lot of great tools that we have here that we don’t want to use." The warning was clear: comply or face increasingly severe penalties.
The roots of this standoff trace back to an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in April 2025, which took effect in June. The order mandates that all commercial truck drivers must be proficient in English—a requirement Duffy describes as a critical safety measure. "Making sure drivers of very heavy, 80,000-pound rigs can speak the language is truly a critical safety issue," Duffy said, emphasizing the dangers posed when drivers cannot read road signs or communicate with law enforcement.
The immediate catalyst for the crackdown was a fatal crash in Florida on August 12, 2025. According to federal officials, Harjinder Singh, an immigrant from India who entered the U.S. illegally in 2018, was driving a commercial truck with licenses from both California and Washington. Singh made an illegal U-turn on the Florida Turnpike, causing a collision that killed three people. Prior to the crash, Singh had been pulled over for speeding in New Mexico. Subsequent FMCSA inspections revealed that Singh failed both the English-speaking and highway sign recognition tests—raising serious questions about how he obtained and retained his commercial driver’s licenses.
"So this one driver touched all three states," Duffy noted, highlighting the interconnectedness of state enforcement and the potential for regulatory gaps to have tragic consequences. The Department of Transportation’s investigation found that from the June 25 resumption of enforcement through August 21, all three states exhibited "significant failures" in following federal guidelines to place drivers out of service for English-language proficiency (ELP) violations.
California, in particular, was singled out for failing both to adopt and enforce the ELP guidelines. Out of roughly 34,000 inspections where at least one ELP violation was reported, only one driver was actually placed out of service. The DOT further noted that at least 23 drivers with documented ELP out-of-service violations in other states were later inspected in California, yet the state failed to honor those violations or enforce the ELP rules, allowing unqualified drivers to remain on the road.
New Mexico and Washington were also found lacking. New Mexico reported placing zero drivers out of service for ELP violations and allowed at least seven unqualified drivers to continue driving. Washington, for its part, had about 6,000 inspections resulting in a driver failing at least one ELP test, but only four drivers were removed from the road. In some cases, drivers previously placed out of service for ELP violations in other states were allowed to drive in Washington without additional scrutiny.
The federal government’s findings have sparked intense pushback from state officials. California Governor Gavin Newsom’s press office responded on social media, targeting both the Trump administration and Secretary Duffy. "This is rich. The Trump Administration approved the federal work permit for the man who killed 3 people — and now they’re scrambling to shift blame after getting caught. Sean’s nonsense announcement is as big a joke as the Trump Administration itself," the office posted on X (formerly Twitter). However, the Department of Homeland Security denied issuing the driver a work permit, instead blaming California’s Department of Motor Vehicles for granting a commercial license to an undocumented immigrant.
Washington’s officials were more measured but no less resolute. Mike Faulk, deputy communications director for the Washington State Attorney General’s Office, stated, "We are consulting with our state agency clients. We don’t have any further comment at this point." Governor Bob Ferguson, a Democrat, had previously declared, "Washington State will not be bullied or intimidated by threats and legally baseless accusations," amplifying his state’s resistance to what he views as federal overreach on immigration enforcement.
The New Mexico Department of Transportation deferred comment to the state’s Department of Public Safety, which did not immediately respond to inquiries. The silence from New Mexico stands in stark contrast to the vocal responses from California and Washington, but the financial stakes are just as high.
Industry voices have weighed in as well. Chris Spear, president of the American Trucking Associations, praised the enforcement actions as "a necessary and welcome step toward ensuring safety and accountability on our nation’s highways." According to Transport Topics, Spear stated, "Every commercial driver operating in the United States must be able to read road signs, communicate with law enforcement, and understand safety instructions. When states fail to enforce these standards, they put lives at risk." He emphasized that the vast majority of professional drivers meet these requirements and that strict enforcement is essential to maintaining public trust and road safety.
The controversy has also prompted federal officials to consider further tightening the rules. Secretary Duffy indicated that the Department of Transportation is exploring ways to tie English proficiency mandates more directly to the commercial driver licensing testing process, particularly in the "behind-the-wheel" portion of state examinations. "This is something we’re looking at and working on when someone, an individual, comes in to take their test to become a commercial driver, and then they do a skills test… at that point, it would be clear that this driver doesn’t understand all the road signs and doesn’t speak the language, but miraculously, they’re passing the skills test," Duffy remarked, expressing skepticism about the current system’s integrity.
As the 30-day deadline ticks down, the standoff between the federal government and the three states shows no signs of abating. The issue has become a flashpoint for broader debates over immigration, federalism, and public safety. Whether the states will comply, challenge the ultimatum in court, or seek a compromise remains to be seen. What is clear, however, is that the outcome will have significant implications for the trucking industry, state-federal relations, and the safety of America’s highways.
For now, all eyes are on California, Washington, and New Mexico as they weigh their next moves, with millions of dollars—and public safety—hanging in the balance.
