DPS email shows English rule doesn’t cover all Texas truck drivers

TEXAS, USA — The Trump administration reinstated enforcement of the long-standing English-proficiency rule this summer, requiring drivers to communicate with officers during traffic stops and read highway signs at weigh stations. The Obama administration had stopped enforcing the rule in 2016.

But WFAA has discovered the requirement does not apply to every commercial truck driver in Texas.

An internal May 20 email from Maj. Omar Villarreal, who oversees Texas DPS Commercial Vehicle Enforcement, told inspectors that English violations and out-of-service orders “will only apply to motor carriers engaged in interstate operations.”

That means drivers working for companies that never leave Texas are exempt — a carve-out created decades ago in the Texas Transportation Code.

Trucking attorney