Trucking Executive Warns of Unqualified Immigrant Drivers Endangering US Highways

A trucking industry executive warned of deadly risks from unqualified commercial truck drivers on U.S. highways, many of whom are illegal immigrants unable to read basic road signs.

Mike Kucharski, co-owner and vice president of Illinois-based JKC Trucking, told Fox News Digital that authorities need more investigations into the issue. "This is just madness," he said.

"You wouldn't put someone in a cockpit of a Boeing 737 flying from New York to California if they weren't properly trained or couldn't communicate clearly or speak English. The same standard should apply to our highways," Kucharski said. "Every day, truck drivers are driving alongside school buses, families and commuters just trying to get to work and back home safely. When unqualified drivers slip through the cracks, that creates risk for our motoring public, and you can see that there's accidents all the time."

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton this week launched a probe into several commercial driving schools in the state for allegedly endangering Texans through inadequate training, including to non-English speakers. Paxton's office said the practices violate federal law on basic English comprehension and Texas law on commercial vehicle training.

The investigation follows U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy's announcement months earlier that his department issued more than 550 notices of removal to sham CDL training schools nationwide for violating federal safety standards.

Kucharski agreed that Duffy and Paxton are correct to target CDL school abuses. He cited recent fatalities tied to drivers with improperly issued licenses.

Last week, Ohio officials disclosed that Modou Ngom, a semi-truck driver charged in a fiery interstate crash that killed a young family of three, had fraudulently obtained an Ohio driver's license, commercial driver's license and U.S. citizenship under an alias.

In February, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Indiana arrested Bekzhan Beishekeev, an illegal immigrant semi-truck driver who received a commercial driver's license from Pennsylvania. The Department of Homeland Security said Beishekeev killed four people on Feb. 3 by swerving into oncoming traffic and striking a van head-on.

In Oregon, ICE arrested Indian illegal immigrant Rajinder Kumar, accused of jackknifing his semi-truck and trailer to block both lanes, causing a crash that killed a newlywed couple.

Several other high-profile crashes involving illegal immigrants and bogus CDLs have occurred in recent months. "This is just madness what's happening," Kucharski said. "It has to stop because the longer this continues, there's going to be more accidents, more people that are going to perish."

Kucharski said the problem also harms the trucking industry and U.S. supply chain, raising prices. "This is an economic issue, not just a safety issue," he said. "When unqualified drivers get on the road, it doesn't just increase risk, it drives up the insurance costs, which has already risen for all of us; our insurance keeps going up, lawsuits, ultimately prices for the consumers."

He has previously highlighted illegal immigrants using sanctuary state licenses to undercut qualified American drivers who demand higher pay. Illegal drivers exploit a loophole with non-domiciled CDLs from states like California and New York, he said, underbidding legitimate firms and closing small businesses.

"All our truckers are fighting for the same load, and it goes to the lowest bidder," Kucharski said. "If you have these drivers coming in that are non-domiciled, they have no family here, they have no home, they live in their truck. They're saying, ‘OK, look, all the market's doing for $2,000, we'll do it for $1,700.’ So, it's putting small trucking businesses out of business every day."

On CDL schools certifying unfit drivers, Kucharski said, "They're putting bad actors in there, and they're causing chaos in the trucking industry. It's just a huge black eye to the trucking industry."

"This investigation is absolutely necessary," he added. "It's about protecting the American public and restoring trust in the industry."

Kucharski urged other trucking owners to join the fight against what he called an abomination.