Trump Says He'll Seek to Replace Immigrant Truck Drivers With Veterans

[RandySF]

President Trump said on Wednesday that his administration was cracking down on unauthorized immigrant truck drivers and would seek to replace them with veterans.

“We are going to take our veterans; we’re going to teach them a lot about driving trucks,” Mr. Trump said, to take the place of drivers without legal immigration status, which he claimed without providing evidence were causing many accidents.

The president added that “any American who has driven a heavy truck for our military will automatically be eligible for a commercial driver’s license.” He did not give details on the proposal.

Mr. Trump’s remarks, made during a military investment summit in Carlisle, Pa., appeared to reflect a broader administration push to curtail immigrant commercial licenses, including for legal residents. In March, about 200,000 immigrant drivers who had authorization to live and work in the United States lost their licenses.




https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/15/us/politics/trump-immigrant-truck-drivers-veterans.html

[hatrack]

1. Yes, and they'll be paid $.20/mile and no overtime and their lives will be just . . . . dreamy!!

[RandySF]

6. Twenty cents?

You’re joking, right?

[hatrack]

8. Of course - but if Swift, Conway and Trump could get away with it, they'd do it in a heartbeat . . .

.

[Emile]

2. Be a lot more inexperienced truck drivers on the road.

Hopefully they won't kill too many of us.

[stopdiggin]

3. those jobs have been WIDE open, and going begging - for literally decades now ... - - - - - -(nt)-

[underpants]

5. Exactly. Many if not most of the trucks have advertisements on them.

Literally negotiating with themselves. Fixed mileage rates and “Home on weekends” etc.

[Bengus81]

9. Yep...literally every one of them. I'm up and down I35 several times per year

and they all are begging for drivers and have for years.

[riversedge]

35. Yes. agree..Help wanted is posted on many hugh trucks--for years and years.

[underpants]

4. CDL? This is like the Vet DD-214 gun waivers

Last edited Thu Jul 16, 2026, 03:04 PM - Edit history (1)

In Virginia, at one point (and for a long while) having a DD-214 waived you from having to take a course to get your Concealed Carry permit.

I see that that has changed thankfully.

I was in the Army over 30 yeas ago. That doesn’t mean I still know how to drive a heavy truck or handle a gun.

[3catwoman3]

38. I have a DD-214 from my 4 years in the Air Force nurse corps.

Never drove a truck. Never touched a gun. Never want to do either.

[Prairie Gates]

7. Yeah, that's who I want driving trucks on our nation's highways: currently unemployed veterans

This reminds me of some NIMBY thing that happened in Queens maybe 15 years ago. A few neighborhoods were up in arms because there was a men's drug rehab/homeless shelter proposed for an industrial/commercial stretch between two neighborhoods in Northern Queens. Both of these are super conservative neighborhoods (one, in fact, is part of the stretch of Queens that elected George Santos). Needless to say, these bozos are constantly posting on their Facebook that we should stop giving foreign aid and instead give that money to veterans. Um, who do you think makes up the population of drug rehab/homeless shelter for men? Could it be...the very veterans who need support from the government?

[Ilsa]

10. What makes him think vets don't want to use their

GI Bill benefits to attend college?

[ColoringFool]

17. This Administration is trying to suppress those ambitions.

[Johnny2X2X]

19. Trump thinks vets are "suckers and losers"

The idea that our vets are highly capable and educated is foreign to him.

I'm sure there are some vets who'd like to be truck drivers, but I'd bet most of them have their sights on something different.

He has no idea what our soldiers do, that they learn all sorts of skills and trades in the service and that many come out capable of running companies, doing technical jobs, getting advanced degrees, and ascending to high paying careers. He thinks they're just dumb grunts who couldn't do anything else so they joined the military.

I work for a large engineering firm who executes major military contracts, we have vets up and down our organization in every role from junior engineer to senior executives. People more capable than Trump and his ilk.

[viva la]

33. I teach in a college that enrolls many veterans

I'm always amazed at the level of technical expertise and leadership skills they have without yet having a college education. The military trains them well.

[sinkingfeeling]

11. Just what we need: vets with PTSD driving semis in heavy traffic.

[ColoringFool]

16. If people die: Mission Accomplished! (Newsflash: He's a psychopath.)

[flvegan]

12. Not sure experience with "a heavy truck" is the same as a semi.

I had an uncle who drove 18 wheelers. I was around 25 when he invited me to check out his rig. He showed me how to back it up to hook up a trailer. It was precisely that moment that I, a fairly good driver myself, knew I could never, ever do that job due to a sincere lack of skill and ability. I don't think just anyone can do it.

[ColoringFool]

15. Don't worry; Trump's just talking out of his ample arse.

[Alice B.]

18. I used to sit in meetings where men touted "driving truck" as the solution to anyone and everyone's unemployment

... it really sent me, the notion that "anyone and everyone" had the aptitude for anything and everything.

And never mind the aptitude required for driving those rigs, there's also the health requirements, etc.

I used to want to ask how many people got frustrated driving to work that morning, and b*tched out other drivers? Did they think those people who cut them off or this or that should be behind the wheel of a tractor trailer, or any big truck for that matter?

[Johnny2X2X]

21. It's definitely a skill that not everyone has

People think it's just like a relaxing drive in your car, but in a big semi, you're on high alert virtually the entire drive. There's more to monitor on the vehicle, there's more area to be aware of at all times. It's white knuckling it for the first few months I am sure. The people who last in it are probably the people who learn to deal with the stress and let it fall away some. I think it's that stress along with a sedentary lifestyle that give truckers such health problems as they age.

Not everyone can do it. In fact, most people can't do it.

Reminds me of the push from the right towards the skilled trades right now. They only ever mention master electricians, or journeymen plumbers. They never mention that 90% of electricians never make it to master, or that about half of all plumbers won't ever make it to journeyman. So even for people who think the trades are for them, have enough ability and work ethic to go into them, most don't get to the highest levels.

[Alice B.]

22. All of this! 200%!

[Ex Lurker]

58. My BIL tried his hand at truck driving after he got out of the Navy

His training with a co-driver went alright. His second solo trip he got stuck on a mountain road in an ice storm where he couldn't go backwards or forwards without sliding. He locked up the truck, hitched a ride down the mountain and fedexed the keys to the company. He works at an airport now.

[GCG]

27. It's not the same

I was in the army and drove 2 1/2t and 5t cargo trucks...I also drove a 5t tractor pulling a 40 foot trailer.

It isn't the same, I had to get qualified to drive both heavy trucks and tractor/trailer trucks.

[Solly Mack]

13. What bullshit.

[ColoringFool]

14. Sure, Jan. If there's one demographic that Trump cares about, it's our veterans. 🤣😅🤣🤪🤪🤣🤣😅

[ProudMNDemocrat]

20. One of the jobs my husband once had was OTR truck driving.

During the early to mid 1990's, my husband drove over road trucks before his IBM retirement started coming in in 1996. Going to truck driving school in Green Bay, WI for Schneider National(the orange trucks) was not easy. He was also still in the MN Air National Guard as well. The company honored that.

Driving over the road means many days away from the family, coming home every other week or so. My husband did what he had to do to earn an income during the years when we were both working 2 to 3 jobs to keep afloat, and still invest for the future.

Prior to that, he drove limousines for a local company when the rich Saudis and King Hussein of Jordan was coming to Rochester. It was not until 1998, my husband was able to get a position at a local manufacturing plant for the next 10 years. Over the road trucking is not an easy job or life.

[valleyrogue]

23. The asshole doesn't even know that veterans preference is a type of affirmative action or "DEI."

Since it would be mostly mediocre white males that would benefit from such unmerited hires, it's okay.

[Dulcinea]

47. Well, mediocre white men make up most of his cabinet.

And all the Fascist Felon has to do is look in a mirror to see the ultimate mediocre white man.

[RedWhiteBlueIsRacist]

24. Camo 18-wheelers, coming to a hiway near you!

[jmowreader]

25. The Town Drunk could do something RIGHT NOW that he won't do

The military has four jobs that drive heavy trucks.

US Army: 88M Motor Transport Operator
US Navy: EO Equipment Operator
US Marine Corps: 3531 Motor Vehicle Operator
US Air Force: 2T1X1 Ground Transportation Specialist

(All four of them are trained at Fort Leonard Wood, MO.)

If that idiot Hegseth wants to start making these jobs performable in the civilian world, start by purchasing 60 Class 8 tractors with manual transmissions. The military's standard 18-wheeler is called an M915, and it has an automatic transmission. If you report for your CDL road test in a truck with an automatic transmission, you receive a Restriction on your license that doesn't allow you to drive a truck with a manual transmission in it - which a lot of trucking companies prefer. Ten trucks get sent to the Army's trucking school at Leonard Wood so soldiers can learn to shift a manual. The Army will pick one National Guard Armory or military base in each state to send the others to. The military will extend the training period for these four jobs by one week. In that week, which happens after the M915 has been added to your military driver's license and you've qualified on the manual transmission truck, they send you to the base in your home state of record that has the truck you'll test on. You fly out there at government expense, do your CDL testing at the DMV, and get your license before flying back to Leonard Wood to finish school.

After that's in place, all the troops who have graduated from Leonard Wood but haven't trained up for their CDL will have the same thing happen to them - a week's TDY to their home state and DMV testing. The whole program would cost less than repainting the Reflecting Pool and it'd work, which is why they won't do it.

[Scrivener7]

26. What an ignorant asshole.

[JBTaurus83]

28. Are there an overwhelming

Number of vets who want to do this? Just more gaslighting bullshit.

[viva la]

29. He sounds like an idiot. Really.

And if I'm sure veterans that want to drive trucks and get trained can get those jobs. There are thousands of driver jobs going begging-- that's why immigrants can get them.
Trump just has his buzzwords. He's got no respect for veterans-- look how he let Musk hollow out the VA-- but he's got some vague notion his followers have some positive feelings towards them. He's just as likely to say, "Let's give those jobs to WWF wrestlers!"

[3catwoman3]

39. He doesn't just sound like an idiot.

He is an idiot.

[The Madcap]

30. So is he saying ICE is going to be cutting off semis on the interstate with their measly SUV's?

If so, be prepared for some real "Mad Max" highway mayhem. I can foresee semis blocking the highway in groups or even just plowing into the ICE goons' vehicles. It's really hard to stop a semi on a dime. Truckers stick together.

[hamsterjill]

31. Hmmmm... I've never been in combat, but I would think that

Driving a heavy truck for our military out in the desert in wide open spaces just MIGHT be a little different than driving a semi in 5:00 o'clock freeway traffic with busloads of school children next to you.

Am I wrong?

[patphil]

32. I doubt there are very many veterans who want to be truck drivers.

It's a very tough, stressful job that can take you away from your home for days, possibly more than a week at a time.
Even local, or short haul truckers need to be highly trained to handle large trucks in heavy traffic on all sorts of road conditions.
If a veteran wanted to drive trucks for a living, he would have already taken steps to make it happen. There is a big shortage of drivers right now, and it would be easy to get work if the veteran had the desire to do so.

This is just another stupid idea from a man who has almost no connection between his brain and his mouth.

[MikeyDi]

34. You have to remember that with Trump, it is permanently 1985

When he thinks "Veteran," he is thinking of a white, 40 year old Vietnam Vet with undiagnosed PTSD and a spotty employment history. Maybe the guy has a backpack and walks around the Pacific Northwest. And maybe a local sheriff is harassing that guy for no one reason. And it leads to a standoff in the woods. And you need to get his old colonel to come in and talk sense to him.

That's the guy he's going to help by making him a driver for Hills or K-Mart.

[Johonny]

36. So he is going to lobby congress to fund

A massive truck drivers education program targeting veterans?

Or, I suggest, he is talking out his ass without any plan at all.

[Mz Pip]

37. Government control

over the private sector. Hmmm.🤔

[walkingman]

40. Doesn't sound very safe to me....

Maybe visit a VFW sometime and it is pretty obvious that is a bad idea. They usually get started around noon.

[ProfessorGAC]

41. If The Veterans Wanted Those Jobs...

...wouldn't they be doing them?
Companies are more than happy to fill jobs with veterans. If vets wanted to be a truck driver, I'd think they'd already be driving trucks.

[kimbutgar]

42. You're right about the shortage of drivers

I’m on a family vacation driving from California, to Oregon, Idaho, and Arizona and back to my home in California. I’m in Idaho now and have been seeing a lot of trucks hauling three large containers. Usually I only see 2 but here in Idaho 3 are kind of shocking! I know it’s because there are less long haul drivers and young people aren’t onto those type of jobs.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

45. There are certain states that allow triples on their roads like these states:

The following states allow the use of triple semi-trailers:
Arizona
Colorado
Idaho
Kansas
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
North Dakota
Oklahoma
Oregon
South Dakota
Utah
Some states like Indiana and Ohio allow them, but usually only on specific turnpikes where the lanes are wide and the exits are fewer.

Not a good idea to be beside one on a windy day.

Most other states allow for doubles.
Here in the industry, we call them wiggle wagons.

[kimbutgar]

46. Thanks I have never seen a triple one and it kind of scared me seeing so many containers.

[OldBaldy1701E]

53. Just wait till you see what is next!

(From the movie 'Logan'.)

[Initech]

43. I'd much rather replace Trump with a competent president.

[Martin68]

44. Do the veterans have a choice? Is this what they want?

[Abolishinist]

48. Hold on a minute...

“any American who has driven a heavy truck for our military will automatically be eligible for a commercial driver’s license.”

Imagine saying that when the only thing you’ve ever driven with four or more wheels is a golf cart.

Shouldn't their testosterone levels be tested as well?

[Botany]

49. Isn't it up to the trucking company or the manufacturer of a product to figure who to hire to drive the trucks?

Trump is a cancer on America.

[shanti]

50. Good luck with that!

[sedwin]

51. Sure

Trump says lots of things but almost never delivers.

[Boo1]

52. Most states already allow this

Arleast for parts of the cdl fesf to be skipped by vets with certain certifications.

I'd assume that most qualified cets who want to drive a truck already are. This will have 0 impact.

[Captain Zero]

54. Railroads had great unions and local truckers too

Immigrant over the road truckers,
not so much.

I thinks that's why railroad transport went away.

Prove me wrong. It was another long term project of the Corporate Right.

[Klarkashton]

55. And give up disability payments? No sir!

They could have taken those jobs at any time.

More make work bullshit.

[11 Bravo]

56. And Whiskey Pete will ensure that those vets have acceptable testosterone levels.

[marble falls]

57. What does he think is keeping veterans of the road now????