Heritage Explains: How Did We Get Truck Drivers Who Can’t Speak English? | Lora Ries
Every day, my wife takes our two young boys to their activities a few miles from our house in the family car. As she drives, she shares the road with gargantuan 40-ton trucks. We assume the people behind the wheel have been properly trained and can understand the signs. But I fear a day when our family experiences what Dalilah Coleman's family did. Dalilah was five years old when she was hit by an 18-wheeler driven by an illegal alien. The truck plowed into her stopped car at over 60 miles an hour. After spending 3 weeks in a coma, 4 months without half her skull, and 6 months in the hospital, she now enters first grade unable to walk, talk, or eat without assistance. Illegal immigrants and drivers who cannot adequately speak English have obtained commercial licenses, while federal officials have raised alarms about CDL mills pushing unqualified drivers through the system. Now lawmakers are pushing Dalilah’s Law, named for the little girl, designed to make sure such a tragedy never happens again. But how did we get here? How widespread is the problem? And what needs to change to make America's roads safer? Joining me today to explain is Lora Ries, Director of the Border Security and Immigration Center at The Heritage Foundation.
