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Florida Congressman Byron Donalds is calling for a federal crackdown on sanctuary-state policies that allow illegal immigrants to obtain commercial drivers licenses after a joint ICE and Oklahoma Highway Patrol operation arrested 70 illegal immigrants, including 34 accused of driving big rigs while in the U.S. unlawfully.
“You have blue states that do not care about the nation’s laws. They want to be sanctuaries, they want to house illegals, and then who pays the price are citizens in red states who actually do not want these sanctuary policies,” Donalds, a Republican, told Fox News Digital.
Donalds said the incident in Oklahoma underscores a growing national safety risk – foreign nationals who “cannot read our road signs” yet are “gaming the system” to obtain commercial licenses in states like California, Illinois, New York and New Jersey.
“You have the American people, they’re doing the right thing, and now they’re subject to losing their lives or being in an auto accident with a CDL driver who cannot read our signs, who doesn’t know our laws,” he said. “These commercial driver’s license operators [are] driving rigs that are 80,000 pounds. That’s insane.”
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Donalds said legislation he has introduced, the WEIGH Act, would give the federal government new tools to stop states from issuing CDLs to illegal immigrants and to punish those that do.
“This is one of the reasons why I sponsored the WEIGH Act here in D.C.,” he explained. “It would actually give broader authority for the Department of Transportation to not just hold other states accountable that are letting these CDL licenses be issued, but would also give the Department of Treasury the ability to withhold federal funds in the process.”
“If you actually penalize these states for allowing this behavior, they’ll then have to turn around and fix it on their end,” Donalds said. “And that’s how you save lives of the American people.”
The bill would also allow the Department of Transportation to conduct immigration and English-proficiency checks at weigh stations nationwide.
“If there’s a failure in one of those two, then they detain that driver,” he said. “It gives them the authority to withhold federal transportation dollars from those states… and those are the two mechanisms we believe that will stop a lot of these sanctuary policies in California, in New York, and other blue states in America.”
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Donald’s comments come after ICE and the Oklahoma Highway Patrol announced “Operation Guardian,” a two-day enforcement sweep in late October that resulted in 70 arrests, including 34 individuals operating commercial trucks while in the U.S. illegally.
ICE said 26 of those drivers held CDLs issued in sanctuary states, while eight others had no commercial license at all. The operation was conducted under Oklahoma’s 287(g) partnership with ICE to address public-safety concerns tied to unlicensed and unauthorized drivers.
ICE’s Marcos Charles, executive associate director for Enforcement and Removal Operations, said many of those detained “were operating 80,000-pound tractor-trailers and, in some cases, could not read basic English,” calling it a “serious highway safety risk.”
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Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt praised the effort, saying the state would continue enforcing “common-sense standards” requiring legal status and English proficiency for commercial drivers.
Donalds said the danger extends far beyond one state.
“It’s like somebody driving an 80,000 pound truck that can’t see. It’s that dangerous,” he said. “The issue that happened in Florida is it was a section of the turnpike where you’re not allowed to turn around and the guy turned around. And what happened? You had three people who were killed on Florida highways. It’s that serious… this behavior has to stop.”
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“If these states won’t do the right thing, then it’s gonna be the responsibility of the federal government to do it,” Donalds said.
Donalds also directed his message to Democratic governors in sanctuary states.
“Stop living in this worldview that radical left immigration policy is the right thing to do on behalf of the American people. It simply is not. It is making our country less safe,” he continued. “This is not partisan and should not be partisan. This is not ideological and should not be ideological. This is about public safety.”
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“Every governor has a responsibility to do what’s right so that our roads are safe,” he added.
Backing Donalds’s warning, National Border Patrol Council Vice President Art Del Cueto told Fox News Digital the situation should never have happened.
“It’s amazing that we’re even looking at this,” Del Cueto said. “They’re illegals — not only should they not have CDLs, they shouldn’t have any driver’s license. They’re not legally here.”
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ICE said it intends to expand similar enforcement operations in other states as part of its ongoing focus on highway safety and coordination with state partners.
A previous operation in September netted 120 arrests, including 91 commercial drivers with criminal histories ranging from DUIs to money laundering and human smuggling. Officials said the goal is to ensure that “illegal aliens who engage in criminal activity or operate vehicles without proper authorization” are removed from U.S. roadways.
Stepheny Price covers crime, including missing persons, homicides and migrant crime. Send story tips to [email protected].