No, millions of foreign truck drivers aren’t flooding into the U.S.

Mar 24, 2025 at 03:47 PM CST
A smattering of media reports has advanced a dubious claim that millions of foreign truck drivers have flooded into the U.S. in recent years, displacing American workers and jeopardizing highway safety. The basis for the claim is an analysis of federal data that purports to show 1.68 million commercial driver's license (CDL) holders added to the U.S. driver pool between 2016 and 2024. While the originators of the claim do not explicitly source their data, all indications are it comes from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's Motor Carrier Management Information System (MCMIS). This analysis is deeply flawed on two levels. First, the CDL data in the MCMIS database includes more than just Class A CDL holders operating heavy-duty tractor-trailers. It also includes Class B CDL holders for vehicles like buses, limos, and various utility vans used by cable, plumbing, and construction companies (many of which require employees to obtain CDLs for safety and insurance purposes, even though not required by law). To claim or insinuate the additional CDLs added over the last decade are all for the tractor-trailer driver market is incorrect.

Mar 24, 2025 at 03:47 PM CST

A smattering of media reports has advanced a dubious claim that millions of foreign truck drivers have flooded into the U.S. in recent years, displacing American workers and jeopardizing highway safety.

The basis for the claim is an analysis of federal data that purports to show 1.68 million commercial driver's license (CDL) holders added to the U.S. driver pool between 2016 and 2024. While the originators of the claim do not explicitly source their data, all indications are it comes from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's Motor Carrier Management Information System (MCMIS).

This analysis is deeply flawed on two levels. First, the CDL data in the MCMIS database includes more than just Class A CDL holders operating heavy-duty tractor-trailers. It also includes Class B CDL holders for vehicles like buses, limos, and various utility vans used by cable, plumbing, and construction companies (many of which require employees to obtain CDLs for safety and insurance purposes, even though not required by law). To claim or insinuate the additional CDLs added over the last decade are all for the tractor-trailer driver market is incorrect.