In a recent appearance on “The Jeff Poor Show,” Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall endorsed federal legislation that would restrict access to commercial driver’s licenses, CDLs, to English-speaking legal residents in the U.S.
The so-called “Safer Truckers Act of 2025” was introduced last year by U.S. Senator Ashley Moody, R-Florida, in response to two fatal crashes in other states involving Sikh truck drivers. Those crashes inspired Republicans like Moody to claim that immigrants are dangerous drivers and push for new English proficiency standards and regulations restricting immigrants’ ability to obtain CDLs.
Marshall applauded Moody’s legislation, stating that its provisions make “perfect sense.”
“I think we do a better job of it in Alabama than other places, and I think our trucking association has been proactive,” Marshall said. “But you see an effort, particularly right now at the federal level, with my good friend Ashley Moody, the senator from Florida, with the Safe Truckers Act (sic), being able to say two things now have to fundamentally be in play. Number one: if you’re going to get a CDL, you have to be proficient in the English language. Makes perfect sense, right, that you need to be able to read the signs, be able to understand the English language, to be able to safely operate large trucks on our roads. But we’re also going to make sure that a CDL is going to be issued specifically to those who are in this country as citizens or have special status that otherwise is recognized. And so I think both of those need to be the law of the land, so the exceptions don’t apply.”
Marshall also claimed that the policy would increase job opportunities for American citizens by limiting the ability of immigrants to work as truck drivers.
“And look, if we make sure that illegals are not driving our trucks, what we’re doing is opening up jobs for American citizens to be able to have good-paying jobs that otherwise are being taken by others,” Marshall said. “And so, I commend that effort at the federal level and also know that in Alabama, the Trucking Association is trying to also advocate for similar measures to be able to protect us on our roads here.”
The Safer Truckers Act has also inspired lawmakers to introduce similar legislation at the state level.
State Representative Phillip Pettus, R-Killen, cited the same crashes involving Sikh truck drivers as the impetus behind his recent introduction of House Bill 88. The bill would mandate that all state driver’s license exams in Alabama be administered exclusively in English.
HB88 has already ignited sharp controversy among state lawmakers, with Representative Thomas Jackson, D-Thomasville, recently slamming the proposal as “cruel and inhumane.” The legislation is currently awaiting consideration by the House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee.
Marshall’s office did not immediately respond to APR’s request for comment as to whether the attorney general’s support for the Safer Truckers Act also extends to HB88.
