Okarina Krainova, who labored as a trucker within the US after fleeing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the place she is from, rushed to the closest motorized vehicle’s workplace final fall, simply days after the US transportation division tightened business driver’s license necessities for immigrant drivers like her.
She was already afraid of being deported back to Ukraine because the struggle rages on. She had entered the United States legally in 2024 underneath a Biden administration program that granted lots of of 1000’s of Ukrainians a protected haven.
But Krainova’s fortunes modified with Donald Trump’s second time period as he made it tougher for all immigrants to acquire and hold their licenses.
Now, 1000’s are braced for losing their licenses after new guidelines kicked in final week, in accordance to a document by the transportation division.
Krainova, 39, had already felt the blow. She mentioned she enrolled in truck driving lessons in January 2025, and was proud to cross a driving examination in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, the place she lived on the time, the next month.
“I wanted to clarify the new rules because I didn’t want to be stopped by ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] officers at a gas station or on the road and be placed in detention,” mentioned Krainova in a cellphone dialog with the Guardian from Odesa in southern Ukraine.
“I was asked to show my license and I did and I said I had work authorization and that I had paroled into the US. Then they asked me if I had a green card and I said no. After that, a supervisor came and said I couldn’t drive a truck and that my license would be canceled.”
According to paperwork shared with the Guardian, the expiration of her license was set for 21 October 2026, the identical date her immigration standing was set to lapse if she had not been ready to renew it.
The South Carolina motor autos division confirmed that Krainova’s license was canceled on 6 October 2025, nearly a 12 months prior to its official expiration date. Another 135 immigrant truck drivers have seen their licenses canceled in South Carolina alone, in accordance to the workplace, and the image is comparable in lots of different states.
While the Biden-era program, referred to as Uniting for Ukraine, gave Krainova and extra than 200,000 Ukrainians renewable work permits underneath the parole coverage, it didn’t place them on a path to everlasting residency or citizenship.
But the rule that ended up affecting Krainova’s speedy future was simply one in all so many elements of the broader crackdown on refugees and asylum seekers with work authorizations all through the whole nation. Most not too long ago, at the State of the Union handle, Trump requested lawmakers to ban states from granting new driving licenses to immigrants within the nation illegally.
Last November, a federal courtroom in Washington DC halted an interim model of the Trump administration restrictions that might severely restrict immigrants from acquiring business driver’s licenses.
But by then, it was too late. Krainova had already returned to Ukraine, out of concern of being arrested by ICE and despatched to a detention heart.
Krainova mentioned that when she noticed that her license was being canceled, she thought it was greatest for her to return to Odesa. She had hoped her associate would have joined her within the US in some unspecified time in the future. Instead, she went back to him in Ukraine.
“I preferred going back home to my husband than being detained for months and being treated the way other immigrants are in those detention centers,” she mentioned.
When talking about life back at residence, she talked of the chaos of patchy vitality provides and occasions of consolation for some, whereas others had bombs touchdown on their houses. As winter ended and the struggle entered its fourth 12 months, Russia continues attacking residential areas of Odesa.
She mentioned: “For the past two weeks, the temperature hasn’t dropped below freezing, so we have electricity turned on most of the day and it is much easier to get warm at home. Trams and buses are still out of service for another month, [and] unfortunately, there have been many attacks on residential buildings where civilians live.”
The Trump administration’s efforts to prohibit noncitizens from getting business driver’s licenses got here after an undocumented immigrant from India, who had obtained his license in California, was charged with three counts of vehicular murder whereas making an unlawful U-turn in Florida final 12 months.
As a results of this incident, Florida now requires all business driver’s license exams to be administered in English solely. More Republican-led states are considering following swimsuit. Meanwhile in California, exams are nonetheless provided in 20 languages. The federal authorities has not too long ago required the California division of motor autos to cancel licenses of 1000’s of immigrant truck drivers there.
“This federal administration is using their war on immigration to remove qualified, hardworking commercial drivers from our workforce who meet language and safety rules,” Steve Gordon, the state’s DMV director, mentioned in a press release.
The US transportation division’s secretary, Sean Duffy, beforehand announced that drivers ought to meet federal necessities to perceive English nicely sufficient to learn highway indicators and talk with legislation enforcement. This steering was in keeping with Trump’s govt order signed final April.
The division mentioned in a press release despatched to the Guardian: “The secretary’s number one priority is ensuring the safety of Americans, whether in a car, truck or bus. Under his leadership, the department is taking commonsense approaches to increasing safety conditions on our roads by ensuring drivers operating big rigs and semi-trucks are doing so lawfully.”
“That includes having valid immigration status in the US and being able to proficiently communicate in English with law enforcement officials and other drivers. It’s not controversial, it’s common sense.”
After the November courtroom block, an up to date, final version of the restrictions went into pressure final week.
The trucking trade tremendously will depend on the immigrant workforce to hold items transferring throughout the nation. More than 720,000 foreign-born truck drivers assist transport about 2.7bn tons of food each year.
One of them is Serhii Krakivskyi, who in October 2024 was allowed into the US, like Krainova, thanks to the Uniting for Ukraine program and shortly after obtained his business driver’s license in New Jersey.
Krakivskyi mentioned he drives about 3,500 miles every week and has been in nearly each state as a part of his job. During his break on a daily shift, from inside his 18-wheel truck, he advised the Guardian he is aware of of colleagues being pulled over on the highway and failing the English check.
“I do agree with a lot of things that they’re implementing like knowing the language, but it’s not fair that those who speak the language well like me are concerned and nervous on the road,” mentioned Krakivskyi, who labored on the Ukrainian army’s prosecutor’s workplace in Kyiv prior to migrating to the US.
“My driving record is very clean, I don’t have any tickets – why are we all being put under the same rule?”
According to a coverage enforcement document, so as to consider a driver’s compliance with the English proficiency requirement, an officer ought to conduct an interview and a freeway site visitors signal recognition evaluation, all in English. When drivers don’t reply to inquiries by talking English sufficiently, the official cites them for a violation, dropping the appropriate to work on the highway.
An estimated 9,500 drivers have been taken off the roads in latest months for failing English language proficiency necessities alone, in accordance to the federal authorities.
Krakivskyi, 38, mentioned that when he arrived in New Jersey, the place he at present resides, he began wanting into totally different professions till he selected truck driving primarily based on different Ukrainians’ experiences.
Because truck driving is among the most harmful professions within the nation due to risks akin to fatigue and freeway accidents, the job is reportedly much less interesting to American drivers. Krakivskyi, an immigrant himself, noticed a possibility there. But that chance is now at risk.
Krakivskyi took programs, discovered all of the elements of the truck and the way to acknowledge highway indicators, and handed all of the exams in English. His business driver’s license expires in August 2026, the identical expiration date as his parole standing that enables him to keep within the nation legally.
Krakivskyi added: “I’m concerned that the questions from a native speaker inspector might be unclear since I’ve studied English at an academic level. I don’t think there’s a problem of principle, I think it’s the approach.”
