FMCSA Shuts Down 110 CDL Schools, Pulls 28,000 Drivers From the Road in English-Proficiency Sweep

The U.S. Department of Transportation and FMCSA on Aug. 31 announced the emergency removal of 110 commercial driver's license training providers, tying the action to 5,000 English Language Proficiency (ELP) violations traced back to those schools. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, appearing alongside Homeland Security Secretary Mullin and the White House Fraud Task Force, called it "an emergency executive shutdown of 110 driving schools."

The 110 removals are a subset of a larger sweep: 200-plus driving schools have now been targeted across 23 states, and the agency says 28,000 commercial drivers have been placed out of service for failing English-proficiency checks since June 2025. In one state, 10 CDL skills testers had issued more than 2,000 licenses to drivers who could not pass an English-language evaluation, according to the FMCSA release.

A follow-up investigation in July, reported by CDLLife, reviewed roughly 400 entry-level driver training (ELDT) providers and issued 160-plus removal notices, on top of a broader DOT accounting that put the cumulative campaign at 550-plus schools receiving removal notices, 1,426 on-site investigations and 448 proposed removals as of a February 2026 department update. Investigators cited four recurring violation types: inadequate driving-range space, unlicensed instructors, missing assessment documentation, and fraudulent classroom claims — in one case, a school reported conducting instruction inside a school bus parked in a trailer.

DOT and DHS have formalized the effort as the Joint Task Force Crossroads of America, with Attorney General Todd Blanche's office coordinating prosecutions. States that keep issuing non-compliant CDLs face a graduated federal highway-fund penalty — a 4% withholding in the first year of noncompliance, rising to 8% — alongside mandatory annual reviews and 30-day corrective-action windows before a state testing program can be decertified.

What this means for capacity and vetting

Four things a broker or carrier ops desk should be tracking out of this, heading into peak season:

The entry-level pipeline just got thinner. Removing 110 schools — on top of 28,000 drivers already pulled off the road since mid-2025 — shrinks the supply of newly licensed CDL holders right as Q4 freight demand builds. Fleets that lean on new-driver recruiting to backfill turnover should expect a slower trickle through the schools still standing.

Re-verify, don't assume. Drivers trained at any of the 110 removed schools, or certified through one of the flagged skills-testing sites, may have licenses under active review. A CDL that was valid last week can be cancelled with little notice under this campaign — brokers dispatching owner-operators or small fleets should be checking FMCSA's SAFER and Licensing & Insurance records before, not after, a load moves.

More states could face the same funding squeeze. The 4%–8% highway-fund withholding mechanism mirrors the leverage DOT used against New York's non-domiciled CDL program, which is now in the Second Circuit (filed in this log Aug. 28). Expect more state DMVs to land in the same bind as FMCSA works through its remaining 97 providers still under investigation.

This list isn't final. Only 110 of the 550-plus schools that have received notices have actually been shut down so far. Treat this as the first wave, not the whole enforcement action — carriers with drivers trained at smaller or regional schools should watch for further removals rather than assuming today's list is complete.