00:02Eight years behind the wheel of a tractor trailer, six in Ukraine and two in the U.S.,
00:09Ruslan Zelenye says he likes what he does for a living.
00:13I like truck driving because I go to a very long drive road, maybe in California, Massachusetts, New York, Nebraska.
00:29Yeah, and this is my life.
00:35But Ruslan has an upcoming commercial driver's license expiration date.
00:40He works for Lakeville Trucking Company on a work visa.
00:43He's one of 20 Ukrainian work visa truck drivers here out of a total of 60 truckers at the company.
00:53And I was like, oh my goodness, what are we going to do, right?
00:55The reaction from Lakeville Trucking owner Alex Varonin when he heard the news that effective immediately,
01:02the U.S. is not issuing worker visas for commercial truck drivers.
01:07Crucial, crucial. It's going to damage a lot.
01:10I mean, I'm going to have to right now start looking, telling my management to start looking for drivers to
01:15find them.
01:16But it's just impossible.
01:17I mean, I've been in business since 2008.
01:19And as soon as you put an ad out there, drivers will apply, but most of them don't qualify.
01:23This, as the Trump administration is taking steps to enforce the requirements that truck drivers read and speak English proficiently.
01:33They might have some of them right now on top of learning English.
01:36They're already driving and they're listening to English, trying to learn,
01:39because the new law came out about two months ago that they will be testing all the drivers on the
01:43English language right on the road
01:44to make sure they're eligible to drive.
01:47The decision from the Trump administration follows a crash in Florida that left three people dead.
01:53Authorities say Harjinger Singh is in the United States on a work visa and obtained a commercial truck driver's license
02:00in California.
02:02Police say he made an illegal U-turn on the highway, causing the crash.
02:07Officials question his ability to speak and read English.
02:10There are some guys that, yeah, they don't speak English, but with me, I require my drivers.
02:15We do, like, small tasks just to make sure they understand basics, right, the signs, road signs.
02:21Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I understand.
02:24And you're good to go?
02:25Yeah, there's no problem.
02:29Ruslan worries how he'd support his wife and three children if he were no longer able to sit behind the
02:35wheel.
02:35And Veronin worries about keeping his trucks on the road.
02:39I'm like, how can I get hold of the administration and get answers, right?
02:43Well, what's next?
02:45How can these guys stay here?
02:46How can they extend their visas?
02:48Is there anything they can do for it, right?
02:51No driver license, no job.
02:53Wendy Wright, Spectrum News.
02:55Thank you.
02:55I do.
02:56Thank you.
02:57First one.?
