Trump wants to replace immigrant truckers in US. 1.5 lakh Indians to be hit

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday floated a proposal to replace the country's large number of immigrant truckers with American military veterans after alleging that most of them were "on drugs and alcohol" and "killing a lot of people". If implemented, the proposal could be a detriment to Indian immigrants in the US, thousands of whom have entered the trucking industry in recent years.

Trump, who was speaking at the military investment summit in Pennsylvania, made these remarks while stating that his administration was in the midst of a nationwide crackdown on immigrant truckers, many of whom had arrived in the country illegally, and often lacked proper documents and licences to drive their big rigs, according to a report by the American newspaper, The New York Times.

"My administration will soon take historic action against illegal alien truck drivers who are just killing a lot of people," the US President was quoted as saying by the American broadcaster, PBS.

"They can't read signs. Many of them are on drugs or alcohol, and they shouldn't be driving these things, and they came in totally illegally, and we don't want them, but they are driving all over American roadways," Trump added.

It is these "alien truck drivers" that Trump is seeking to replace with US military veterans. "We're going to replace them with proud American veterans. We are going to take our veterans, we're going to make them, we're going to teach them a lot about driving trucks," Trump was quoted as saying by The New York Times.

The president added that "any American who has driven a heavy truck for



our military will automatically be eligible for a commercial driver's licence." He did not give further details on the proposal.

US President Donald Trump's plan to replace immigrant truckers with military veterans comes amid a massive nationwide crackdown on illegal immigrants in the trucking business.

In March, about 200,000 immigrant drivers who had authorisation to live and work in the US lost their licences as part of this crackdown, reported The New York Times.

Trucking in the US has, in recent years, become particularly popular with immigrants, both legal and illegal, due to both a shortage of American citizens willing to drive big rigs, as well earning a potentially substantial wage soon after arriving in the US.

Should the Trump administration actually implement the proposal to replace immigrant drivers with military veterans, it will prove detrimental to lakhs of Indians, mostly Sikhs and Punjabis who work in the trucking business.

Around 130,000 to 150,000 truck drivers working in the US are from Punjab and Haryana, according to the North American Punjabi Truckers Association. The community has already been severely hit by previous policy decisions, such as mandatory English proficiency tests, as well as the recently enacted Dalilah Law, which halted the issuance of commercial driver licences, to immigrants, or those the administration described as "illegal aliens".

Not making matters better is the fact that Indian truckers in the US have come under the scanners due to a series of high-profile accidents as well as arrests for drug smuggling.