Dalilah’s Law and New Pressures on U.S. Trucking

Dalilah’s Law, introduced in the Senate by Jim Banks and in the House as H.R. 7793, would harden federal rules on who can hold a commercial driver’s license and how states must enforce those rules. The bill follows President Trump’s State of the Union call for legislation named after Dalilah Coleman, a California child severely injured in a 2024 crash involving a truck driver who entered the U.S. illegally and later obtained a state-issued CDL.

The legislation builds on an enforcement wave that has already led California to cancel about 17,000 non-domiciled CDLs and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to issue a March 16, 2026 Final Rule sharply restricting non-domiciled CDL eligibility. The bill would convert these administrative moves into statute and tie state compliance to access to federal transportation funding.

Dalilah’s Law contains several key provisions. First, states could issue CDLs only to U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, or holders of H-2A, H-2B or E-2 visas, matching the FMCSA Final Rule now in effect. Second, states would be required to revoke existing CDLs held by drivers who do not meet this standard, explicitly including individuals who may still have legal work authorization under other immigration categories.

Third, the bill mandates that all CDL knowledge and skills exams be administered only in English, without interpreters or translated materials. Fourth, it imposes a 180‑day universal recertification requirement, obliging an estimated 3.5 to 4 million CDL holders to appear before state licensing authorities to prove qualifying status and English proficiency.

A fifth provision would impose a lifetime disqualification from operating a commercial motor vehicle on anyone who drives without the required citizenship, residency or visa status, even for a first violation, unless they hold specific travel or admission documents that qualify for an exemption.

Dalilah’s Law conditions federal highway and transportation dollars on full state compliance with its CDL eligibility, revocation, testing and recertification mandates. The Transportation Secretary would be empowered to withhold billions in grants and formula funding if states fail to carry out these requirements.

This mechanism mirrors long‑standing federal approaches used to secure national standards on issues such as seat belts and blood alcohol limits. The bill’s backers argue that tying compliance to funding is necessary to prevent state-level lapses in verification that allowed drivers without lawful status to obtain CDLs under existing prohibitions.

Because revocation applies "whether or not such persons have work authorization," the bill would reach beyond undocumented immigrants. Drivers with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, Temporary Protected Status, pending asylum or refugee status could lose CDLs if they are not citizens, permanent residents, or holders of the specified visas.

DOT has estimated that about 200,000 drivers could be removed under the FMCSA rule alone, with 97% of current non‑domiciled CDL holders ineligible for renewal. An analysis for J.B. Hunt projects 214,000 to 437,000 drivers exiting over two to three years when non‑domiciled restrictions and English‑language enforcement are combined.

Much of the policy architecture already exists administratively: the non‑domiciled CDL rule, an English‑only testing directive, and state revocations such as California’s. Dalilah’s Law would lock these into federal statute, making future reversal possible only through congressional action rather than agency rulemaking.

Some measures publicly described by Dalilah’s father Marcus Coleman are not in the bill as introduced. These include requirements for permanent reflective business signage, fingerprint submission for new DOT numbers, and explicit coverage of gig‑economy drivers. Trade press reports state that these anti–"chameleon carrier" and gig provisions could be added later but are absent from the current text.

While Dalilah’s Law moves through Congress, trucking has already been affected by coordinated enforcement from the Department of Transportation and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). DOT has tightened CDL rules, while DHS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement have run roadside and residential operations removing drivers who no longer meet eligibility standards.

On March 5, President Trump removed Kristi Noem as DHS Secretary and nominated Senator Markwayne Mullin, with a planned March 31 start date pending Senate confirmation. Noem faced bipartisan criticism over a deadly Minneapolis enforcement incident and spending issues, but there has been no indication of a shift away from aggressive immigration enforcement or coordination with DOT on CDL matters.

Mullin has supported hard‑line immigration measures and represented Oklahoma, a state that partnered early with DHS and ICE on highway immigration enforcement targeting truck drivers. Analysts cited in reporting say the existing enforcement framework was largely designed by DOT, and that Mullin is expected to maintain, rather than reverse, the current trajectory once DHS funding constraints from an ongoing shutdown are resolved.

Separate from Dalilah’s Law, Senator Tom Cotton and Representative Elise Stefanik have introduced the Trucking Security and CCP Disclosure Act of 2026. The bill would require carriers handling Department of War equipment to certify that neither they nor their subcontractors are owned, controlled by, or maintain significant ties to entities on the Defense Department’s list of Chinese military companies.

The proposal responds to concerns raised by American Truckers United about Chinese nationals and other foreign drivers obtaining non‑domiciled CDLs with limited vetting and English proficiency, and about potential visibility into sensitive U.S. military logistics. The group has urged Cotton to go further by supporting Dalilah’s Law, arguing that narrow safeguards on Chinese-linked carriers or military loads leave broader supply chains exposed.