Newsmax: Rep. Harrigan to Newsmax: Illegal CDL Crisis 'Absolutely' Must Stop
Contact: Lexi Kranich (814) 380-4408
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Rep. Pat Harrigan, R-N.C., told Newsmax on Thursday that the Trump administration is doing "exactly the right thing" by holding Democrat-led states accountable for failing to enforce federal law governing commercial driver's licenses.
He warned that the failures are putting Americans' lives at risk.
"This is what happens when you have a Democratically-led state," Harrigan said on "National Report." "And unfortunately, we've got a Democratic governor who simply does not care about the law."
His comments came after a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration review found serious violations in North Carolina's issuance of non-domiciled CDLs. Federal officials found 27 of 50 licenses sampled did not comply with federal requirements and ordered the state to take corrective action.
The Transportation Department has called for North Carolina to immediately pause issuance of non-domiciled CDLs, identify noncompliant licenses and revoke and reissue them when appropriate. The state also faces a comprehensive audit of the procedures, training and policies behind the violations.
Harrigan said the findings cannot be dismissed as government red tape because unqualified commercial drivers have been involved in deadly crashes nationwide.
"I'd like to say this is not a bureaucratic paperwork problem,” Harrigan said. “People have been killed across our country. American citizens are being killed.”
"The Department of Transportation has said that non-domiciled drivers who would be ineligible under its rules were responsible for at least 17 fatal crashes and more than 30 deaths in 2025 alone," he added.
Harrigan said Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and President Donald Trump's administration are responding to the situation appropriately.
“I think the transportation secretary has done exactly the right thing," he said. "The Trump administration is doing exactly the right thing, holding liberal states accountable who are not enforcing federal law, because it's having a very real impact on the lives of innocent American citizens."
Harrigan said states that fail to enforce federal requirements and the driving schools operating within them have combined to create the problem.
"It's a combination of both states that are not enforcing federal law and rogue schools that are operating in those states that are not enforcing federal law," he said. "It's not one is blind to the other; they're operating in conjunction with one another."
Harrigan said North Carolina had 924 unexpired non-domiciled CDLs and argued drivers who fail to meet federal English-language proficiency requirements pose a particular danger.
"That means they can't read our road signs, they can't talk to our highway patrol, they cannot follow our traffic laws, and they're endangering the public while behind an 80,000-pound tractor trailer," he said.
Harrigan also warned that CDLs can remain active after foreign drivers overstay their visas.
"That's putting Americans at risk, that's putting North Carolinians at risk," he said. "That's almost 1,000 illegal alien truck drivers running around, not just North Carolina roads, but moving out into our country and endangering Americans. It's absolutely got to stop."