Trump just accomplished what his Republican predecessor George W. Bush refused to do: make understanding of English a requirement for truck drivers’ licenses. In 2002 Phyllis Schlafly urged GWB to repeal Clinton’s extension of commercial licenses to non-English-speaking truckers, but GWB refused to act.
Clinton opened the southern border to Mexican truckers to carry long loads, potentially including drugs, deep into the U.S. without knowing English. Not only did this take jobs away from Americans and create havoc at checkpoints, but it also resulted in horrific highway accidents that Phyllis wrote about two decades ago.
Trump just delivered again for American workers and highway safety: truck drivers must understand English to drive big rigs across America. In the split-second decisions truckers make on congested highways, they need to understand road signs easily.
Road signs are commonly in English, and the driver of an 18-wheeler must be able to read what he sees. If there is a shortage of English-speaking drivers, wages should increase to attract more rather than endangering other travelers with truck drivers who cannot read the signs.
On Monday, Trump signed an Executive Order stating that truck drivers “should be able to read and understand traffic signs, communicate with traffic safety, border patrol, agricultural checkpoints, and cargo weight-limit station officers. Drivers must provide feedback to their employers and customers and receive related directions in English.”
“Every day, truckers perform the demanding and dangerous work of transporting the Nation’s goods to businesses, customers, and communities safely, reliably, and efficiently,” Trump stated. In March, Trump also made English our official language, which other Republicans failed to do for decades.
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To the dismay of liberals opposed to English as our official language, the president of an association of 150,000 truckers immediately applauded Trump’s Executive Order. Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association President Todd Spencer stated, “Basic English skills are essential for reading critical road signs, understanding emergency instructions, and interacting with law enforcement.”
Meanwhile, Democrat-appointed federal judges in California continue to drive the wrong way on immigration-related issues. San Francisco Federal Judge William Orrick, known for spending years pushing the abortion industry agenda against the young man David Daleiden for exposing its alleged trafficking in fetal tissue, recently ordered Trump not to withhold funds from sanctuary cities.
On Trump’s first day, he signed an Executive Order commanding that his incoming Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem stop the flow of federal taxpayer funds to sanctuary cities that defy federal law by harboring illegal aliens. The unlawfulness of these cities results in heinous crimes against innocent Americans.
“Here we are again,” Judge Orrick brazenly declared in issuing an injunction last Friday against Trump to keep the gravy train flowing to many cities that sued in his courtroom, including faraway Santa Fe, New Mexico. Numerous cities picked this San Francisco venue to sue because its judicial bench is composed nearly entirely of Democrat appointees.
But the Trump Administration's appeal will immediately go to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, where Trump appointed 10 judges during his first term out of 29 active judges today. The Ninth Circuit is no longer the Leftist paradise it once was, and even Democrat-appointed judges have already reined in a nationwide anti-Trump injunction emanating from Seattle.
Democrat-appointed Judge Jamal Whitehead in Seattle blocked Trump’s suspension of the refugee program with a nationwide injunction in February. But on appeal to the Ninth Circuit, a 2-1 Democrat majority stayed most of that by allowing Trump’s suspension to go into effect against all refugees who did not already have confirmed travel tickets by January 20, when Trump was inaugurated and issued his Executive Order.
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld Trump’s ban on travel from seven specific countries during his first administration, in a lawsuit liberals filed in Democrat-dominated Hawaii. The Supreme Court confirmed that the president has broad authority over matters related to foreign policy and national security, in which courts should rarely interfere.
The crisis at our southern border evaporated almost immediately after Trump began issuing these Executive Orders upon his inauguration. News photos of long lines of migrants have disappeared, and migrants are staying in their native countries, where they should remain.
The same liberals who complained about Trump separating families during his first term now whine that children are being deported with their mothers. At her mother’s request, a 2-year-old child born in Louisiana was sent back to Honduras with her mother as she was being deported, and the child was not given a hearing on the issue.
Trump officials acted properly in keeping this family together as much as possible, and federal courts should not try to act like family courts when issues of deporting illegal aliens with children arise.
John and Andy Schlafly are sons of Phyllis Schlafly (1924-2016) and lead the continuing Phyllis Schlafly Eagles organizations with writing and policy work.
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