California Democrats running for governor are promising to protect migrant semi-truck drivers from English proficiency tests on the nation’s highways, even after being shown a video of a migrant truck driver who could not understand road signs.
During a debate in April, former Biden administration Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Xavier Becerra said he would “push back on the Trump administration” regarding migrant truck drivers being given English proficiency tests.
“I would definitely push back on the Trump administration on, again, a reckless policy,” Becerra answered in response to being asked if the California Highway Patrol (CHP) should give English proficiency tests to truck drivers. Becerra’s answer came after the moderators showed the candidates a video in which a CHP officer was seen giving a “roadside English proficiency test to a commercial truck driver.”
Becerra added, “I would make sure that that officer understands that he cannot discriminate against any driver without having a basis to do so. I understood a little bit of what that individual was trying to say. I couldn’t see the sign, but it certainly sounded like he was trying to describe what that particular sign was trying to represent.”
Other Democrat candidates running for governor in the state, such as billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer and former Rep. Katie Porter (D), stated that “racial profiling is illegal,” and they would “fight the Trump administration” regarding English proficiency tests for migrant truck drivers.
“Racial profiling is illegal,” Steyer said when asked if proficiency tests for migrant truckers should be enforced. “And, in fact, picking on people based on the color of their skin in the state of California is illegal. I have a program for ICE that involves prosecuting them for racial profiling, prosecuting them for violence against Californians.”
Porter responded that she “would absolutely fight the Trump administration” regarding the enforcement of English proficiency tests for migrant truck drivers.
“Protecting Californians also includes enforcing traffic laws, and we’ve seen, sometimes, the need for oversight in California. For example, we have seen that the Department of Motor Vehicles was not enforcing rules around DUIs and drivers who had convictions for that,” Porter continued.
When asked if “this type of roadside testing” should become standard procedure in the state, Riverside County Sheriff and Republican candidate for California governor Chad Bianco explained that if the law enforcement officer was “verifying whether or not someone can read signs,” then that person was probably “stopped for violating a sign.”
“We have to, first off, acknowledge that we actually do have rules, and we actually do have laws, and if they are not abiding by those laws and California is giving them driver’s licenses when they do not qualify for those driver’s licenses, and we’re sending them out onto the streets — we also have seen several horrific accidents that were attributed to people that did not understand English or that could not comprehend the road signs or the street signs that they were supposed to be abiding by,” Bianco explained.
Republican candidate for governor, Steve Hilton, explained that if elected governor, California will “not be issuing commercial driver’s licenses” to illegal aliens and migrants who do not speak English.
“It is completely ridiculous that we have people driving on our roads who can’t understand road signs, and can’t speak English,” Hilton said.
Breitbart News’s John Binder reported in October that Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy had shared that over 7,000 migrant semi-truck drivers had been taken off the roads for failing to meet the Trump administration’s English proficiency standards.
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