The US Postal Service has announced a major change in how it works with trucking companies that move mail across the country. From now on, contractors will be required to remove commercial drivers who hold non-domiciled licenses but are not legally eligible to drive in the United States.
The decision follows a recent push by the Department of Transportation to crack down on immigrant drivers whom officials say may pose safety risks on American roads. USPS said it will begin working closely with trucking companies to slowly phase out these drivers, especially those who have not been properly checked by the US Postal Inspection Service.
Concerns about driver vetting have grown after several deadly truck crashes involving drivers without legal status.
What non-domiciled CDL means
A non-domiciled Commercial Driver’s License is given to someone whose license is issued in a state where they do not permanently live. These licenses are often held by people who move states for work. Some of these drivers are undocumented migrants. Others are foreign nationals who are legally in the US on work visas or lawful residents temporarily living in a different state because of their job.
The Postal Service said trucking companies working with USPS will now be required to fully vet all such drivers before letting them operate mail trucks. Over time, USPS plans to phase out the use of non-domiciled CDL drivers who are not cleared through this process.
“The US Postal Service will begin working with its contracted trucking providers to phase out any use of non-domiciled Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) operators who have not been thoroughly vetted by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. These actions are consistent with the Administration’s goals as expressed in the DOT’s recent interim final rule titled “Restoring Integrity to the Issuance of Non-Domiciled Commercial Drivers Licenses (CDL),” USPS said in a statement.
“The Postal Service moves 55,000 loads by truck every day – nearly 2 billion miles per year – and making improvements in our operations goes hand-in-hand with improvements in safety so that we can safely deliver to more than 170 million addresses six and often seven days a week,” USPS added.
Trump administration’s focus on migrant drivers
Under Donald Trump’s administration, federal agencies have increased enforcement against migrant truck drivers who do not have legal status. ICE operations like “Operation Midway Blitz” in Illinois and Indiana, along with California’s “Operation Highway Sentinel,” led to the arrest of hundreds of undocumented drivers.
Supporters of these actions say they are needed to enforce immigration laws, ensure drivers can read and speak English, and keep highways safe. Migrant rights advocates, cited by Newsweek, however, say these crackdowns unfairly target immigrants and hurt workers who are trying to earn a living.
The changes come after several accidents involving migrant truck drivers came to light, in some cases resulting in the loss of lives. In October 2025, Jashanpreet Singh was charged in Ontario, California, after his truck slammed into stopped traffic on Interstate 10, killing three people. Authorities said he was under the influence of drugs.
In August 2025, Harjinder Singh allegedly made an illegal U-turn on Florida’s Turnpike, causing a crash that killed three people. In November 2025, Rajinder Kumar was charged in Oregon after his truck jackknifed and caused a crash that killed two motorists.
According to Newsweek, citing Shannon Everett of American Truckers United, the issue became more serious after a 2024 audit by the USPS Office that found gaps in how drivers were vetted and supervised. Everett said companies that replaced American truck drivers with poorly vetted labor made profits from it and should now be held accountable.
In August, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced an immediate pause on work visas for truck drivers. Around the same time, the Department of Transportation began cracking down on states accused of issuing non-domiciled CDLs improperly.
In September 2025, the department issued an emergency rule limiting non-domiciled CDLs to people on H-2A, H-2B, and E-2 visas.
States pressured with funding threats
California was warned it could lose $160 million, while New York faced a possible $73 million cut, if it failed to implement new rules. California later agreed to revoke about 17,000 commercial licenses held by foreign nationals flagged in federal audits. The federal government also withheld $40.6 million from California over failure to enforce English language requirements for drivers.
At the same time, the trucking industry is struggling. A July survey by Tech.co found that nearly 70 percent of freight companies are having trouble meeting demand because of worker shortages.