President Donald Trump’s administration announced sweeping results Tuesday from a multistate crackdown targeting unsafe and unlawfully operated commercial trucks.
Operation Highway Shield resulted in 3,487 enforcement stops across Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Ohio, according to figures obtained by Fox News.
Authorities placed 766 unsafe commercial vehicles or drivers out of service and made 51 immigration-related detentions. The operation also produced 47 criminal charges, 39 incarcerations and 36 English Language Proficiency violations.
Officials additionally recovered three stolen cargo shipments worth approximately $1 million.
The Department of Transportation launched Operation Highway Shield in Florida before expanding it into the Midwest. The initiative brings together federal transportation officials and state law enforcement agencies to identify unqualified drivers, unsafe vehicles, criminal activity and potential immigration violations along major freight corridors.
An earlier four-day phase in Florida led to more than 3,300 commercial vehicle inspections, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
That operation removed 176 drivers from service, including 54 for language deficiencies. Authorities also made 35 criminal arrests and took 42 people into custody for alleged federal immigration violations.
The Trump administration has argued that enforcing English proficiency standards is essential because commercial drivers must be able to understand road signs, respond to law enforcement officers and follow emergency instructions.
Florida Master Trooper Craig Lents told Fox News that drivers traveling at highway speeds may have only a moment to read and understand a critical sign.
“If you are going down the road at 70 miles per hour, and you see that sign, you only see it for a split second,” Lents said.
During one roadside encounter recorded by Fox News, a driver repeatedly answered “no” when a trooper asked him to explain the meaning of a road sign and what motorists should do upon seeing it.
Federal law has long required interstate commercial drivers to read and speak English well enough to understand traffic signs, answer official questions and complete required records.
Trump renewed enforcement of that requirement through an April 2025 executive order. The order directed the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to strengthen roadside inspections and make English proficiency violations grounds for placing drivers out of service.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy subsequently issued new enforcement guidance, declaring that commercial drivers who failed to satisfy the federal language standard could no longer continue operating after receiving a citation.
“America First means safety first,” Duffy said when announcing the policy. “Americans are a lot safer on roads alongside truckers who can understand and interpret our traffic signs,” according to the Transportation Department.
FMCSA’s updated inspection policy instructs officers to begin roadside inspections in English. If a driver appears unable to understand the officer, inspectors can conduct an interview and a traffic-sign recognition assessment. Drivers who fail may be cited and immediately placed out of service.
The administration’s broader trucking enforcement campaign has already produced thousands of inspections nationwide. The first wave of the separate Operation SafeDRIVE initiative removed 704 drivers and 1,231 vehicles from service following 8,215 inspections across 26 states and Washington, D.C., the Transportation Department reported.
FMCSA Administrator Derek Barrs told Fox News that the language standard is about more than reading road signs. Drivers must also be able to understand instructions following a collision, traffic backup or other emergency.
“It’s been the law for a long period of time,” Barrs said. “It’s a safety issue.”
The latest results show the administration is continuing to combine immigration enforcement with its effort to remove unsafe drivers and vehicles from America’s highways.
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