US Politics
Noem says foreigners can’t drive and ‘endanger our citizens’ as she defends Trump team’s new rules for migrant drivers
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Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem defended the Trump administration’s new restrictions on the issuing of commercial drivers licenses for non-American truck drivers, claiming they are “endangering our citizens.”
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy last month announced restrictions around who is eligible for commercial driver’s licenses, requiring non-citizens to undergo a stricter set of rules — including possessing an employment-based visa and undergoing a federal immigration status check.
“Putting these foreigners in tractor trailers…becomes extremely dangerous,” Noem said at a Thursday press conference, speaking in front of two massive trucks. “I have driven semis over many, many years and 18-wheelers and understand they’re difficult to stop, maneuver, you have to have a skillset but also communication with those around you.”
“Putting them behind the wheel of these tractor trailers weighing tens of thousands of pounds loaded with explosive fuel down the highway endangers every single citizen that is on our roads,” she added.
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As part of “Operation Midway Blitz,” 223 immigrants were arrested, 146 of whom were truck drivers, in Indiana on Thursday, she said. Over 40 of the drivers had been issued commercial drivers licenses.
“If you are here driving on our streets illegally and our highways, you are endangering our citizens, and your days are numbered,” Noem said.
In a press release about the Thursday arrests, Homeland officials said: “In recent months, we’ve seen a disturbing pattern of criminal illegal aliens driving commercial vehicles on American roads, directly threatening public safety and resulting in senseless loss of life.”
The arrested drivers “overwhelmingly” received their licenses from “sanctuary states” such as California, New York and Illinois, Homeland Security Secretary said.
This week, Duffy threatened to pull $160 million in federal funds from California, claiming the state is illegally issuing commercial drivers licenses to non-citizens.
“Gavin Newsom cares more about giving illegals commercial drivers licenses than he does citizens of his own state and the safety of Americans. It’s shameful,” Duffy told Fox Business Sunday. “He’s been lying about what he’s been doing and we’re going to fight tooth and nail to make sure we hold states like California accountable.”
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Her announcement came as Illinois Democratic Governor JB Pritzker urged Noem and DHS to “pause all of their federal agents’ operations for the entirety of the Halloween weekend” in Chicago.
The city has been the target of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown for weeks; masked federal agents have been carrying out raids across the Windy City while a lawsuit plays out to determine whether Trump can deploy National Guard troops to Illinois.
“Your operation has sown fear and division and chaos among law-abiding residents in our communities. If you are unwilling to cease operations and leave our city, can we at least agree that our children should not be victims, especially on Halloween?” Pritzker said Thursday.
Noem rejected Pritzker’s request.
“No, we’re absolutely not willing to put on pause any work that we will do to keep communities safe. The fact that Governor Pritzker is asking for that is shameful,” she said at the press conference.
