Trucking vet lawmaker sounds off on illegal immigrant drivers as REAL ID deadline looms

A House Republican whose family found success in the trucking industry is voicing concerns about illegal immigrants working in the industry in the U.S.

Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., praised President Donald Trump’s executive order mandating English proficiency as a requirement for professional drivers in an interview with Fox News Digital.

It also comes as the REAL ID deadline fast approaches in the U.S. as the Trump administration finally seeks to impose the 20-year-old measure in a bid to crack down on illegal immigrants, including those who have been made eligible for driver’s licenses in blue states. 

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Rep. Mike Collins praised President Donald Trump’s executive order on mandating English proficiency for commercial drivers. (Getty Images)

“Accident rates have gone up 75% because we have people that are driving trucks across this country, they can’t read or speak English,” Collins told Fox News Digital, noting he’d been in the trucking industry for 30 years.

“I don’t know how that makes sense … but thank goodness the president saw that when he signed an executive order.”

In recent years, illegal immigrants have been able to obtain driver’s licenses in 19 states and Washington, D.C., where they are issued regardless of immigration status.

Collins said it’s had an effect on the trucking industry more widely, however.

Collins has been a trucking industry veteran for decades. (Office of Congressman Mike Collins)

“It impacts the trucking industry because you got people that have no skin in the game, so to say. It doesn’t matter if they get involved in an accident, what do they care? Because they’re not here legally anyway. So, at worst-case scenario, they just lose the vehicle because they weren’t even kicking them out,” Collins said.

“Let’s at least get these people off the road, make them stop driving and, oh, by the way, pack your bags and go home.”

It’s not clear how much REAL ID will help in the immediate future, considering states will be allowed to continue issuing non-REAL ID-compliant licenses alongside the new federal standard. 

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Kristi Noem, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, is rolling out REAL ID. (Ken Cedeno/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

But the Trump administration is attempting to at least stop people who cross the border illegally from being able to get to Collins’ home state of Georgia and others via airline travel.

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Noncompliant state IDs will be banned from use on commercial flights and from entering federal buildings starting May 7.

“Under Biden, illegal aliens used non-compliant IDs from sanctuary cities to board flights, but REAL ID’s higher security standards make it nearly impossible to forge legitimate documents, ensuring only verified travelers can fly,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a memo this month.