A storm is brewing on America's highways, shaking the foundations of the nation’s supply chain. At the heart of this tumultuous moment are the country's vast community of Punjabi and Sikh lorry drivers, who now find themselves caught in the crossfire of an aggressive federal safety sweep. This immense workforce, which accounts for nearly 40 per cent of West Coast trucking, is facing intense governmental pressure following a series of fatal accidents.
The scrutiny has intensified with a mass review of the commercial driving licence (CDL) training sector.
Shockingly, nearly 44 per cent of the United States' 16,000 listed training programmes are failing to meet essential government standards. Transport officials are threatening to revoke certifications for thousands of these facilities, dubbed 'CDL mills' which allegedly offer rapid, substandard training in a few days instead of the proper month-long curriculum. Established industry bodies have welcomed the effort to weed out questionable operators who fleece students and put poorly prepared drivers behind the wheel of heavy goods vehicles.
However, the crackdown has also taken an unwelcome turn towards the immigrant community. Making up an estimated 20 per cent of the national trucking workforce, many immigrant-owned firms face intense audits by the Department of Homeland Security concerning driver documentation and eligibility. Advocacy groups, such as United Sikhs, contend that qualified drivers with immaculate records are being unfairly treated as suspects. They suggest that these sweeping, fear-driven policies risk fuelling xenophobia and harassment, rather than genuinely improving road safety. As states are put under pressure to tighten their licensing processes, the campaign to increase road safety threatens to destabilise a vital industry and cast a shadow of mistrust over thousands of hardworking immigrant lorry drivers.