U.S. Transportation Department launches Freedom Haulers to recruit veteran truck drivers

On July 24 the U.S. Department of Transportation announced the Freedom Haulers campaign, an inter‑agency effort aimed at hiring military veterans as commercial truck drivers. The initiative highlights veterans’ discipline and experience, offers a VA‑funded training path, the GI Bill, and a waiver allowing those who have driven large military vehicles to skip the standard commercial driver’s license (CDL) skills test. Digital and radio ads, plus a microsite, provide resources to help veterans transition to the trucking industry.

The campaign coincides with a crackdown on immigrant drivers deemed to have illegal or non‑English‑language licences. Federal audits led to about 26,000 drivers being removed for lacking English proficiency and roughly 30,000 commercial licences being canceled for improper issuance. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the effort is “removing more and more dangerous foreign drivers off our roads every day and restoring the integrity of America’s trucking industry.” The agency has also warned several states, including California, New York, Pennsylvania, Minnesota and North Carolina, that failure to comply could result in withheld highway‑fund allocations.