The Department of Homeland Security said Monday that federal immigration agents arrested more than 230 people in the country illegally during a 72-hour operation across 15 states. The agency said more than 40 of those arrested held commercial driver's licenses and had been removed from the roads.
The operation, called Operation Guardian, targeted people with unauthorized commercial licenses and other public safety threats in trucking, according to a DHS post. DHS did not name all 15 states or release individual arrest records. The agency accused states with sanctuary policies of issuing licenses to people who lacked adequate qualifications, screening, English proficiency or clean criminal histories.
A Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration review found violations in 60 of 123 sampled Texas license files, or 49%. The violations mostly involved license validity periods that extended beyond drivers' lawful-presence documents. The review did not show that 49% of Texas CDL holders lacked legal status, and it pointed to weaknesses in how the state verified eligibility.