Truckers from the former Soviet Union are rapidly losing their jobs in the US due to new regulations.

New rules for issuing commercial driver's licenses (CDLs) in the United States threaten to cost thousands of immigrants from post-Soviet countries their incomes. This is reported by Radio Liberty in Central Asia.

Stricter requirements for migrants, raids, and detentions are turning their lives into a real ordeal. Yusuf, from Uzbekistan, came to the United States via Mexico three years ago. He initially worked as a courier, and then, like many of his compatriots, took the wheel of a heavy truck.

For many years, truck driving was considered a lucrative career among migrants due to its high pay and the relative ease of obtaining a driver's license. But that has changed.

"When Joe Biden was president, even if you didn't speak English, you could speak with the help of a translator during the screening. If you answered their questions, you were released. But now, the first thing they check is English. Many migrants have problems because they don't speak the language. In Democratic states, the screening isn't as thorough as in Oklahoma, Iowa, or Florida," Yusuf said.

On the subject: How to get a driver's license in the USA, and how much they pay a trucker: the experience of an immigrant

With Donald Trump's return to the White House in January 2025, immigration policy in the United States has become more stringent.

In late September, the Department of Transportation announced restrictions on issuing commercial truck driver's licenses to foreign nationals. The agency stated that non-U.S. citizen drivers would be unable to obtain a heavy-duty truck license unless they had a work visa and passed a mandatory federal immigration status check.

"Most of our drivers don't have green cards or citizenship," noted Erlan Sydykov, owner of a trucking company and a native of Kyrgyzstan. "We contact each of them and ask them to confirm with their lawyers the documents confirming their legal status. Drivers caught on the road without documents are immediately sent to immigration detention. This situation will have a significant impact on our drivers. Approximately 60-70 percent of them could lose their jobs."

Kyrgyz people making money from trucks confirm that things have become more difficult. According to Erlan, foreigners could previously obtain a five-year truck driving permit, but «They've stopped issuing them now.».

Another driver, Sapar, applied for a renewal after his CDL expired.

“They told me, ‘We can’t renew it, we can’t issue another certificate, it’s cancelled,’” Sapar said.

According to official data, there are approximately four million registered professional heavy-duty truck drivers in the United States, including thousands of migrants from Latin America, Africa, and Central Asia.

The flow of immigrants from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan to the United States has increased in recent years. People from countries with authoritarian regimes and high unemployment flocked to America in search of a better life. Chicago, the most populous city in Illinois, has been jokingly dubbed the eighth region of Kyrgyzstan—tens of thousands of immigrants from that country have settled in the city and its surrounding areas. Many of them have not yet fully legalized their status.

"Under Biden, the Democrat, it was easier to get the first documents—a work permit, a driver's license. With these documents, you could learn to get a commercial driver's license to drive a truck. Many Kyrgyz came to work as truck drivers, as it offers better earnings," explained Adilet, who has now received U.S. citizenship and lives in Chicago.

Why have the rules been tightened?

The case stemmed from a car accident that occurred on August 12 in Florida. A truck driven by an Indian immigrant made an unauthorized turn. Three people died in the accident. The driver, suspected of being undocumented, had obtained a CDL license in California and Washington.

Following the incident, the Trump administration ordered a suspension of the issuance of heavy-duty driver's licenses to foreign nationals.

Later, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced a suspension of work visas for foreigners wishing to drive trucks. Following this, the Department of Transportation decreed that CDLs would not be issued without U.S. citizenship, a Green Card, or a work visa. Federal immigration status verification became mandatory.

Department of Transportation Commissioner Sean Duffy addressed state authorities: «Licenses for 80-pound vehicles carrying heavy loads were often illegally issued to dangerous foreign drivers. This poses a direct threat to the safety of every family on the road. Today's measures are aimed at stopping dangerous drivers and invalidating illegally issued licenses.».

Former Uzbek citizen Utkur Rakhmatullaev, who received American citizenship and helps migrants legalize their status in the United States, noted that attempts to tighten regulations for truck drivers were underway before the Florida accident. In late April, Trump signed an executive order making English proficiency mandatory for all commercial vehicle drivers.

«Proficiency in English is a matter of common sense and safety, the document states. Drivers must understand road signs, communicate with police, border and transport authorities, and interact effectively with employers and customers.».

"They planned to fine those with poor English skills and, later, revoke their driver's licenses," explained Utkur Rakhmatullaev. "However, this wasn't implemented in practice, as each state has its own laws. Officers who check migrants on the roads were given additional responsibilities, but their salaries weren't increased: they were working more, but their pay remained the same. In August, there was an accident involving a migrant from India, resulting in deaths. This caused a major public outcry, and the US government began taking tougher measures."

In recent days, videos of raids have been circulating on social media: migrant truck drivers are being stopped at weigh stations, their documents are checked, and they are being taken to detention centers.

“It’s gotten a lot more complicated,” Adilet stated. “They even want to revoke previously issued CDLs. That is, they want to revoke commercial licenses obtained solely on the basis of a work permit. Whether they’ll do this or not is still unknown. But talk is already underway. Immigration enforcement is now 'hunting' migrants. They’re combing neighborhoods, like Chicago, and picking up people indiscriminately, based solely on appearance. They even catch American citizens. The police’s job is to detain and place them in detention. And then they sort things out there: they check documents, release some, and not others. As far as I know, almost everyone with document problems is deported. People are stopping trucking and renting their trucks to companies. Drivers are being detained at weigh stations, especially in states close to the Mexican border. These guys prefer not to take risks and want to wait it out for now, find another job. Our driver numbers have significantly decreased.” If you have citizenship or a green card, you must carry your passport with you at all times, because if you are detained and do not immediately present documents, you can be sent to a immigration detention center.

What will happen next

Tightening regulations for truck drivers may be an attempt to push migrants out of the sector.

"Are there any statistics that show that these particular drivers, or first-generation immigrants in general, commit more accidents than Americans? My data doesn't suggest that first-generation immigrants or people seeking asylum commit more crimes. It's impossible to isolate anything, but it's absolutely certain that the current administration is exploiting this narrative, saying, 'Look at these bad immigrants who have arrived, causing accidents, not speaking English, not knowing the signs, and taking your jobs,'" said Marina Sokolovskaya, an expert on immigration to the United States.

She is confident that the situation is not hopeless. The industry can survive the outflow of migrants, and migrants will be able to adapt to the new reality and find other work.

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"There's a large group of people who say, 'What should we do? How are we going to make money?' But no one is cutting them off from other sectors. For some reason, people think that without Russian-speaking immigrants or immigrants from the former Soviet Union, this industry will collapse. But it existed for years, decades, before the border opened. It's always been there. By 2022, when the border opened to immigrants from the former Soviet Union, many Russian-speaking companies had already emerged, employing drivers and Russian-language schools where you could take exams in your own language," Marina Sokolovskaya recalled.

Some migrants share the same view. While the changes present a serious challenge for Central Asians who came solely to work as truck drivers, they could also serve as an incentive to obtain legal status and find permanent employment.

"Besides large trucks, there are also smaller cargo vehicles. They don't require a commercial driver's license. Therefore, I think many people could move into these sectors," says Umar Zhusupbekov, head of the Kyrgyz diaspora in Chicago.

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