President Donald Trump on Thursday announced the “Freedom Haul” initiative to replace illegal alien truck drivers in the United States with veterans.
The president announced his plan outside the west facade of the West Wing. The initiative will make those who have driven a heavy truck for the military automatically eligible for a commercial driver’s license within two years of the end of their service.
Trump said there will be an expedited system for veterans who were not truck drivers in the military.
“They’re going to be given a very quick pass. We’re going to teach them. They’re going to learn,” he said, adding he believes they will be licensed within weeks.
“They’ll be licensed in a matter of a few weeks, I think it is. They’re going to take about three or four weeks of training,” he noted.
Trump said that 34 states have signed on to the initiative, and noted data demonstrates “that truck drivers who are veterans account for 42 percent fewer accidents.”
Veterans already account for one in ten truck drivers.
Trump said that illegal alien drivers have long “terrorized” American roadways.
“For many years, American highways and roadways have been terrorized by unqualified illegal aliens, dangerously driving big rigs… You have to have a knowledge, you have to have a talent for it, and these people don’t have that, ” he said.
“They are driving big rigs, semi-trucks, and tractor-trailers, all because radical left maniacs at the state level have issued them commercial driver’s licenses, even though they’re not entitled to have them,” he added.
He added that many illegal aliens do not understand the language, care to learn it, and cannot read road signs.
“In many cases, they’ve engaged in reckless driving that has caused many, many preventable deaths,” he noted, pointing to an example of an illegal alien killing three last August while taking an illegal U-turn on a Florida highway.
“Just a few weeks ago, a Pennsylvania state trooper was killed by an illegal alien from Haiti driving a semi truck. He was let in by Joe Biden and the open border policy of the Biden administration,” he added.
In 2025, there were 20 deaths as a result of illegal alien truck drivers.
In May 2025, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy signed an order enforcing English proficiency requirements for truck drivers. The president said Thursday that his administration has taken 24,000 drivers who cannot speak English off the roadways.
“We’ve also forced states to cancel more than 28,000 commercial drivers’ licenses unlawfully issued to illegal aliens. They were given illegally,” he added.
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