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Illegal trucker cases fuel GOP push to crack down on CDL mills as Dems largely silent
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Republicans in Pennsylvania are pressuring Democrats to act on a legislative crackdown targeting illegal immigrant truckers on America’s highways.
Several foreign nationals involved in dangerous incidents around the country were found to be holding commercial driver’s licenses from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, leading to tensions between Harrisburg and Homeland Security. Republicans have called on state Democrats to address the issue, arguing such discrepancies do not appear to occur at the same level in other states.
Democrats, including Gov. Josh Shapiro, previously alleged DHS failed to properly maintain its «alien verification» (SAVE) database, which PennDOT said it uses to verify an applicant’s «lawful presence,» while a top Republican recently demanded answers from PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll after illegal immigrants with CDLs were apprehended as far away as Oklahoma.
On Wednesday, Shapiro’s camp did not dismiss Republican-led bills aimed at addressing the issue, including efforts to shut down so-called «CDL mills,» which allegedly produce unqualified truckers and generate significant profits. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the Biden administration adjusted rules to allow trucking schools to self-certify, creating a dynamic he compared to the Minnesota-Somali social-services fraud scandal and called «total bull—» at a recent conference.
LAWMAKERS WARNED PENNDOT OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT-CDL CRISIS BEFORE BUST; GOP DEMANDS ANSWERS FROM SHAPIRO
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, left; a long-term work zone on US-22/Interstate 78 near Krumsville, Pennsylvania, largely spurred by an increase in truck traffic. (Valerie Plesch/Getty Images; Ben Hasty/The Reading Eagle via Getty Images)
«Highway safety is a cornerstone of our mission at PennDOT and the Shapiro administration remains unwavering in our work to make sure Pennsylvania’s roads are safe,» Shapiro spokeswoman Rosie Lapowsky said when presented with the bills newly passed out of Senate committee and considered favorable to the GOP-majority upper chamber.
Harrisburg has faced divided government for some time, as the House is 102-99 Democratic, with two Republican-favored seats vacant that would normally create a one-seat margin, while the Senate holds a 27-23 GOP majority.
Lapowsky pointed to the SAVE database and said PennDOT continues to issue CDLs to drivers verified by that and otherwise in accordance with applicable state and federal law.
ICE ARRESTS 13 AFTER TIP ON TRUCK DRIVERS AT PENNSYLVANIA DMV SPARKS CHAOTIC SCENE
Bekzhan Beishekeev, a 30-year-old national of Kyrgyzstan, is allegedly involved in a crash that left four dead in Indiana. (Fox News/DHS)
«The fact remains that every person who applies for a non-domiciled commercial driver’s license issued by PennDOT must provide proof of identity and proof of their lawful presence in the United States,» she said.
«We will monitor the bills as they go through the legislative process.»
However, Shapiro’s allies in the State House were mum on the subject.
When reached for comment, a representative for House Speaker Joanna McClinton, D-Southwest Philadelphia, said the lawmaker was unavailable due to a floor session and could not review Fox News Digital’s inquiry by next week.
House Majority Leader Matt Bradford, D-Schwenksville, House Majority Whip Mike Schlossberg, D-Allentown, and House Transportation Committee Chairman Ed Neilson, R-Northeast Philadelphia, did not respond by publication time.
While the top Republican on the Senate Transportation Committee that approved the bills — Sen. Judy Ward of Hollidaysburg — could not immediately be reached, other Republicans touted the plans as «commonsense reforms» needed to secure America’s highways.
DEM GUBERNATORIAL HOPEFULS RIPPED FOR PLAYING ‘GARBAGE’ RACE CARD OVER CRACKDOWN ON TRUCKERS’ ENGLISH
«Cracking down on CDL mills and requiring English language proficiency for truck drivers are easy ways for Pennsylvania to make the roads a little safer,» Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee chairman Jarrett Coleman, R-Allentown, told Fox News Digital.
Coleman previously led the charge against illegal immigrant truckers receiving CDLs in Pennsylvania after an Uzbek national residing in Philadelphia was nabbed in Kansas earlier this year.
In that case, Ahkror Bozorov was also found to be wanted back home in Tashkent on suspicion of ties to terrorist groups, according to DHS.
Coleman also highlighted a Senate fact-finding hearing involving Carroll and several trucking interests following another incident in which a Kyrgyz national with a PennDOT CDL caused a crash that killed a person in Indiana.
«I can’t imagine how anyone could be opposed to these types of changes, and quite frankly they’re overdue,» said Coleman, a former commercial pilot and ex-member of the Parkland School Board.
The first of the bills, SB 1294, seeks to crack down on so-called CDL mills that produce undertrained truck driver candidates who pay for their services.
DOT CRACKDOWN PULLS HUNDREDS OF ENGLISH-ILLITERATE, ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT TRUCKERS OFF ROADS AS CRASHES MOUNT
Ward, whose family owns the regionally prominent Ward Trucking firm out of Altoona, was listed as the lead sponsor of all three pieces of the package, accompanied by several colleagues as co-sponsors, including Sens. Camera Bartolotta, R-Washington, Wayne Langerholc, R-Johnstown, and Lisa Baker, R-Dallas.
The first piece officially creates a CDL school licensing board and enforces $25,000 penalties on people who provide entry-level driver training without being certified.
The second bill in the package would require English to be the primary language spoken or understood in testing applications in order to operate commercial vehicles in excess of 40 tons on Pennsylvania highways.
The third bill, SB 1296, establishes new penalties for out-of-service violations issued to unsafe CDL drivers, including operating a heavy commercial vehicle on public highways without English comprehension.
A Pennsylvania Democratic source familiar with the topic also pointed Fox News Digital to a recent hearing before Ward’s committee, where Deputy Secretary of Education Lynnette Kuhn testified about commercial vehicle safety policies under the Shapiro administration.
Kuhn pointed out that the federal government lists 1,273 Pennsylvania-based CDL training firms, but only 40 are registered with Harrisburg.
«Registration is a self-certifying process, and an applicant only needs to check a box attesting that they have met all applicable state requirements,» Kuhn said. «Additionally, FMCSA (a USDOT sub-agency focused on trucking) registration does not require a physical or mailing address, phone number, email address, website, business information, or an individual’s personal information, making it extremely difficult to locate a provider based on the registry.»
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«As a result, unlicensed training providers can appear legitimate to consumers, employers, and state regulatory agencies.»
With the package likely to be approved by the full Senate soon, the fight will shift to McClinton’s chamber, where just a few Democratic defections on a nationally spotlighted issue could seal the deal.
pennsylvania, politics, immigration, illegal immigrants, democrats elections
INTERNACIONAL
American climber’s remains found after avalanche in Pakistan, other mountaineers still missing
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The remains of an American mountain climber who got caught in an avalanche in Pakistan were found on Friday, according to Pakistani officials.
Sarah Mallory Geis was climbing Broad Peak in Pakistan’s Karakoram mountain range with an international group of at least 10 people when they went missing on Thursday.
A rescue team also found the remains of Nadhira Ahmed Abdullah Al Harthy of Oman and Pur Bahadur Gurung of Nepal on Friday.
NURSE IMPALED BY POLE DURING HIKE FORCED TO TREK 10 MILES FOR HELP: ‘A FREAK THING’
Members of a mountaineers rescue team prepare to depart from an airbase on a search operation for climbers missing after an avalanche on Pakistan’s Broad Peak in Skardu, Gilgit-Baltistan, in northern Pakistan, on Friday. (Alpine Club of Pakistan via AP)
There were signs of several more bodies where the rescue team was searching, drone footage showed, according to local officials.
At 26,414 feet, Broad Peak is the twelfth-tallest mountain in the world.
MISSING GRAND CANYON HIKER, 83, RESCUED AFTER GETTING SEPARATED FROM COMPANION
«We hope to continue our operations, both aerial search and the ground rescue, till the time we find the survivors or the dead bodies,» Irfan Arshad, president of the Alpine Club of Pakistan, said Friday.
The rescue operation was temporarily halted Friday night due to weather conditions.
Renowned mountaineer Nirmal Purja is among the missing. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)
Sajid Hussain, deputy director of the tourism department in Gilgit-Baltistan, called the rescue area «remote and difficult.»
NEVADA MAN DIES AT FAMED SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK TRAIL AFTER SUDDEN EMERGENCY
«High-altitude porters and rescue teams are working to retrieve the bodies and transport them to the base camp,» the Gilgit-Baltistan police said in a Facebook post Friday. «Due to the extremely rugged terrain and challenging weather conditions, the rescue operation is being carried out with the utmost caution.»
Broad Peak is the world’s 12th tallest mountain. (AFP via Getty Images)
The other missing climbers are from Nepal, Pakistan, China and the U.K.
Renowned British mountaineer Nirmal Purja, 43, who is of Nepalese origin, and who set the record for the fastest ascent of the world’s 14 highest mountains, was among the missing.
Purja was featured in the Netflix documentary «14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible.»
avalanche, asia world regions, world
INTERNACIONAL
Late-term abortion takes front seat as blue state rushes to expand access before session ends
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Massachusetts is poised to dramatically expand access to abortions access up to 24 weeks of pregnancy in a mad dash by Democrat lawmakers to pass the measure before the legislative session ends Friday.
The Prioritizing Patients’ Access to Care Act is on a fast track to clear the Massachusetts Legislature after passing the House 119-33 last week. It marks the latest effort by Democratic-led states to expand abortion protections after the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision returned abortion policy to the states.
Supporters say the New England state bill removes barriers to medically necessary care, while opponents contend it would make Massachusetts one of the nation’s least restrictive states for abortions later in pregnancy.
MAMDANI AND HOCHUL ANNOUNCE CASH INFUSION FOR NEW YORK CITY ABORTION ACCESS HUB EXPANSION
Pro-life supporters take part in the anti-abortion ‘March For Life’ through central London to a rally in Parliament Square in London, United Kingdom on September 6, 2025. (Wiktor Szymanowicz/Anadolu via Getty Images)
If enacted, the bill would remove current legal requirements limiting abortions after 24 weeks to four specific circumstances — protecting the patient’s life, physical health, mental health, or cases involving a lethal fetal anomaly or a grave fetal diagnosis.
Instead, the bill would allow licensed physicians to decide whether an abortion after 24 weeks is appropriate based on their own medical judgment. It would also prevent third-party medical reviewers from overruling decisions made by a patient and their doctor.
The proposal mirrors a law Maine enacted in 2023 that similarly allows late-term abortions based on a physician’s judgment.
«The goal of passing this legislation is simple. Medical decisions should be made by a patient and their doctor,» bill sponsor Rep. Lindsay N. Sabadosa, D-Northampton, said in a statement. «Massachusetts has one of the best health care systems in the country, and patients should be able to rely on their providers to deliver medically appropriate care without restrictions that can fail to account for the complexity of individual medical circumstances.»
«By removing those barriers, we can ensure that no one has to leave Massachusetts to receive the care they need.»
Supporters of the bill argue that existing statutory exceptions are too narrow to account for every serious pregnancy complication.
NEW JERSEY DEMOCRATS ADVANCE BILL CRIMINALIZING INTERFERENCE WITH ABORTION, TRANSGENDER HEALTHCARE
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., speaks during a Senate hearing while pointing to a chart showing fetal development stages on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Courtesy U.S. Senate Photographic services)
Claire Teylouni, interim co-executive director of Reproductive Equity Now, told the New York Times about a 2021 case in which a woman had to leave Massachusetts for an abortion after her fetus suffered a stroke at 33 weeks because providers did not believe the case fit within the state’s existing legal exceptions.
«She was shocked that she had to leave Massachusetts to get this care,» Teylouni told The New York Times. «Providers say they want to be able to use their professional expertise to make decisions — that’s how we treat almost every other area of health care.»
Opponents say the current law already includes broad exceptions and argue the bill would remove existing limits on abortions after 24 weeks.
«The current law that exists in Massachusetts allows abortion up until 24 weeks, and it already has exceptions,» Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America Communications Direct Kelsey Pritchard told Fox News Digital. «It has health and life exceptions for the mother, but it even has exceptions that allow for so-called fetal anomaly abortion, so if the baby has a life-limiting diagnosis, if the baby has a disability diagnosis, already in Massachusetts you can abort those babies seemingly at any point.
«And so what this new bill would do is allow abortion throughout the second and third trimesters if you have an abortionist who has a medical degree who can sign off on that for you, so essentially they’re opening the door to elective abortion at any point in pregnancy,» Pritchard said.
FIRST ON FOX: TRUMP DOJ REACHES SETTLEMENT WITH PRO-LIFE PROTESTER TARGETED BY BIDEN ADMIN
Pritchard also criticized the legislative process, saying Democratic leaders moved quickly to pass the measure before lawmakers adjourn.
«There’s really no justification for them to make their law this extreme,» she said. «It’s something that they’ve been doing in secret. They kind of tried to fly under the radar when they passed this bill in the House. And then they bypassed the full Senate committee process to fast-track this and get this done before their legislative session ends on July 31.»
Pro-life supporters celebrate outside the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC, on June 24, 2022. The US Supreme Court ended the right to abortion in a seismic ruling that shreds half a century of constitutional protections on one of the most divisive and bitterly fought issues in American political life. The conservative-dominated court overturned the landmark 1973 «Roe v Wade» decision that enshrined a woman’s right to an abortion and said individual states can permit or restrict the procedure themselves. (OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images)
Republicans in the legislature also questioned both the substance of the bill and how quickly it advanced.
Republican state Rep. Kelly Pease told WWLP that he was caught off guard by the proposal.
«I think most of our caucus was. It’s like, where did this come from?» Pease said. «I don’t see how I’m going to be in favor of a bill that allows babies over six months to be terminated when they’re probably viable outside the womb, unless there’s extenuating circumstances, and this kind of just takes away some of the safeguards that were in place before.»
Massachusetts Democratic Gov. Maura Healey has made expanding abortion access one of the defining priorities of her administration.
Since taking office in 2023, she has called Massachusetts a «beacon of reproductive freedom» for abortion access in the post-Dobbs era, having directed state agencies to shield abortion providers and patients from out-of-state legal action and ordered the state to stockpile mifepristone after a federal court challenged the FDA’s approval of the abortion pill. She has not publicly weighed in on this bill.
Fox News Digital reached out to Healey for comment.
massachusetts, state and local, legislation, health, abortion, politics
INTERNACIONAL
El Ejército de Rusia lanzó un bombardeo contra Kiev con misiles balísticos: al menos 4 muertos y 13 heridos
Al menos 4 personas murieron y 13 resultaron heridas en Kiev la madrugada del sábado durante un ataque ruso con misiles balísticos, según informaron las autoridades de la capital ucraniana. El alcalde Vitali Klitschko comunicó en Telegram que, en un primer momento, se reportaron 3 fallecidos, cifra que fue luego actualizada por la administración militar de la ciudad con la confirmación de una cuarta víctima mortal.
El balance de los heridos también fue revisado a 13 personas, después de que inicialmente se informara de 10 lesionados. De acuerdo con la administración militar, el ataque provocó “un incendio en un edificio de seis pisos en el distrito de Solomianski”. La institución castrense advirtió que “la amenaza del uso de misiles balísticos sigue siendo alta” e instó a la población a permanecer en los refugios hasta el fin de la alerta aérea.
“Explosiones en la ciudad. Kiev está siendo atacada con misiles balísticos. ¡Permanezcan en los refugios!”, escribió Klitschko vía Telegram. Periodistas en Kiev reportaron haber escuchado más de 10 explosiones consecutivas, lo que activó las alarmas de vehículos en la ciudad.
Kiev y Moscú intensificaron en las últimas semanas sus ataques de largo alcance, tras el estancamiento de los esfuerzos diplomáticos encabezados por Washington para poner fin a la invasión. El episodio ocurre después de que las Naciones Unidas confirmaran que junio fue el mes más mortífero para la población civil en Ucrania desde abril de 2022, tras el aumento de los ataques de largo alcance por parte de Moscú contra localidades de todo el país.
Este último ataque contra la capital ucraniana ocurre un día después de que el Ejército del país invadido tomó represalias contra objetivos dentro de Rusia, buscando presionar a Moscú para que acceda a negociar tras casi cuatro años y medio de conflicto. El gigante ruso del comercio electrónico Wildberries informó el viernes que su centro logístico en Volgogrado se incendió tras un bombardeo nocturno, el más reciente de una serie de incidentes contra las instalaciones de la compañía. Kiev acusó a Wildberries de almacenar piezas de drones y apoyar al Ejército ruso.
En el ámbito diplomático, el vicepresidente de Estados Unidos, JD Vance, mantuvo el viernes una conversación telefónica con el presidente ucraniano Volodimir Zelensky para abordar la situación crítica de la defensa aérea de Ucrania, la urgencia de contar con misiles interceptores para los sistemas Patriot y el impacto de la guerra en los mercados internacionales.
“He recibido una buena llamada de teléfono del vicepresidente de EEUU, JD Vance. Hemos hablado de nuestra reciente reunión con el presidente Trump en Washington, que fue positiva y productiva”, expresó Zelensky en su mensaje. El jefe de Estado ucraniano insistió ante Vance en que la recepción de misiles interceptores Patriot sigue siendo “una prioridad” para su país, especialmente ante el déficit de este armamento, clave para protegerse de los ataques con misiles balísticos rusos.
Durante la última reunión en Washington, Trump habría confirmado que Ucrania recibió permiso para fabricar misiles interceptores Patriot en colaboración con la empresa estadounidense Raytheon, tal como lo había anunciado en la cumbre de la OTAN en Ankara el 8 de julio. Sin embargo, el presidente estadounidense indicó ante la prensa que aún no está claro si finalmente se permitirá a Ucrania la producción de este armamento estratégico.
“Hay que ser muy prudentes, pero también muy cuidadosos. No hemos llegado a un acuerdo al respecto. Lo estamos considerando, pero es difícil ceder ese tipo de tecnología. Y no creo que esto llegue a suceder. Hay personas a las que se les da esa tecnología y que algún día podrían volverse en tu contra”, advirtió Trump al ser consultado sobre el futuro de la cooperación militar con Kiev.
(Con información de AFP)
War,Europe,Military Conflicts
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World-famous Catholic shrine torched, ‘Devil in a skirt’ scrawled on Virgin Mary statue
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Una agencia de la ONU alertó sobre la suba del tráfico de personas en centros de estafas en línea
