As fatalities from highway accidents involving illegal immigrants persist, Washington, D.C. is examining the trucking industry more closely.
According to a letter acquired by the Daily Caller News Foundation, Senator Jim Banks, a Republican from Indiana, has reached out to the Department of Transportation (DOT), urging them to look into Chameleon Trucking, a company that has repeatedly shut down and reopened under different identities in the state. The request comes following a tragic incident where an illegal immigrant driver was involved in another deadly large truck accident.
“Regardless of the situation with trucking in Indiana, lives are being lost,” Banks stated in his letter to Derek Byrds, the Administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Administration (FMCSA), earlier this week.
“We cannot remain passive while more lives are endangered by drivers who shouldn’t have licenses at all,” he added. “We encourage the FMCSA to use all available resources to investigate potential Chameleon carriers and to permanently ban offenders from operation.”
The focus on Chameleon truckers is growing, especially as the Trump administration intensifies its crackdown on illegal immigrants working in the trucking sector.
The term “chameleon carrier” refers to trucking companies that alter their Department of Transportation (DOT) registration number, name, or ownership structure to dodge regulatory action. After being shut down, these companies can simply reopen, maintaining the same vehicles and staff but under a new guise.
Recently, Indiana State Police arrested commercial driver Sukhdeep Singh, who allegedly ran a red light, resulting in the death of 64-year-old Terry Schultz in Hendricks County. Singh, who entered the U.S. illegally from India, was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as confirmed by a spokesperson.
This deadly crash occurred less than a month after another tragic incident involving Bekzan Bayshekeyev, an illegal immigrant truck driver from Kyrgyzstan, who reportedly killed four individuals in a separate accident in Indiana. Investigations revealed that Bayshekeyev had been driving for Chameleon Transport Company, linked to a network of Kyrgyz truck drivers involved in illicit activities.
“In just six months, seven Hoosiers have died due to illegal immigrant truck drivers,” Banks pointed out in his correspondence. “This is a national crisis.”
Banks has launched a tip line for truckers to report suspicious activities and has received concerning data about the trucking scene in Indiana. Over the past six years, nearly 10,000 new trucking companies have appeared in the DOT database, with around 2,000 registered under only two surnames.
“In Greenwood, a suburb of Indianapolis, there are 1,000 newly registered trucking companies. In the University Park area, which has about 600 residents and 250 households, over 300 active trucking companies exist,” Banks noted to the DOT. “That’s more than one carrier for every home.”
In light of the challenges posed by unauthorized truck drivers, the Trump administration is implementing reforms to commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs), pressuring state governments to remove unqualified immigrant drivers from the roads.
This past September, the DOT significantly tightened regulations surrounding CDLs in non-domiciled areas after a federal audit revealed widespread unlawful issuance of licenses to foreign truck drivers. Additionally, new vetting processes have been initiated, closing loopholes that had previously allowed drivers with poor records to obtain licenses.
The DOT has not yet responded to requests for comment. However, the administration has recently made chameleon carriers a priority.
At a press conference, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced plans for new federal regulations aimed at enhancing the certification process for motor carriers, specifically targeting those frequently changing under new DOT registrations.
“When we hit the road, safety should be our expectation,” Duffy said. “We need to ensure that those driving our massive trucks are trained, qualified, and safe.”
