The United States has suspended the issuance of worker visas for commercial truck drivers, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Thursday.
In a statement posted on X, Rubio said the move takes effect immediately. “The increasing number of foreign drivers operating large tractor-trailer trucks on U.S. roads is endangering American lives and undercutting the livelihoods of American truckers,” he wrote.
The decision follows a tragic accident on August 12 in St. Lucie County, Florida, where at least three people were killed after a semi-truck attempted an illegal U-turn. Authorities identified the driver as Harjinder Singh, an Indian-origin immigrant who reportedly entered the country through the U.S.-Mexico border in 2018. Singh later obtained a commercial driver’s licence in California, a state that allows residents to apply for licences regardless of immigration status.
The Department of Transportation has opened an investigation into the crash. The incident has also triggered fresh political sparring, with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and other Republicans criticizing California Governor Gavin Newsom’s policies.
The Trump administration has been steadily tightening regulations for foreign commercial drivers. In May, the Transportation Department announced stricter enforcement of English-language requirements for truckers, building on an executive order signed by Donald Trump a month earlier. Officials also revealed that since Trump took office, visa revocations have more than doubled compared to the same period in 2024.
The suspension of worker visas comes as the trucking industry continues to face a long-running driver shortage. The American Trucking Associations estimated that the shortfall peaked at nearly 79,000 drivers in 2022. In the current fiscal year, 1,490 H-2B visas have been granted to truckers, compared with 1,400 last year.
While the administration frames the new restriction as a public safety measure, industry experts warn that cutting off access to foreign workers could worsen staffing pressures in a sector already struggling to recruit and retain drivers.