Senator Jim Banks introduced a bill, otherwise known as the ‘Dalilah Law’, to the U.S. Senate on Wednesday.
The bill would require states to take specific measures to ‘get illegal alien truck drivers off America’s roads’ to receive U.S. Department of Transportation funding.
Its introduction follows Tuesday’s State of the Union address, where President Donald Trump called on Congress to pass the legislation.
The legislation is named after Dalilah Coleman, a child who was severely injured in a multi-vehicle crash in California.
According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the collision was caused by a semi-truck driven by Partap Singh, who illegally entered the country in 2022 and was eventually issued a commercial driver’s license by the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles.
Provisions of the bill include:
- Revoking all trucking licenses currently issued to illegal aliens and aliens with temporary status, regardless of their work authorization status.
- Limiting trucking licenses to United States citizens, lawful permanent residents, and certain work visa holders only.
- Offering CDL knowledge and skill tests in English only.
Banks has also been involved in efforts to ‘get illegal alien truck drivers off America’s roads’ at the state level.
This week, he sent a letter to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration requesting an immediate investigation into potential ‘chameleon carrier’ trucking networks operating in Indiana.
He also recently launched a tipline for Hoosiers to report ‘chameleon carrier’ trucking networks and ‘illegal drivers’.
Banks’ actions come as two recent incidents in the state remain at the center of controversy – a quadruple fatal Jay County crashand a deadly Hendricks County collision.
“Too many people have been hurt. Too many have been killed. Americans are paying the price because illegal drivers are being handed commercial driver’s licenses like candy and put behind the wheel of 80,000-pound trucks. That stops now. The Dalilah Law makes it clear: if you are here illegally, you do not get a CDL. We need to act and we need to act now.” Banks said.