California governor hopefuls say police testing big rig drivers’ English is racist

Democratic Party candidates for California governor said they will oppose the Trump administration’s push to force California police officers to start issuing English proficiency tests to the state’s big truck drivers because it is racist.

Warnings and fears expressed about implementing tougher regulations to ensure anyone with a commercial driver’s license (CDL) can understand U.S. road signs came from Democrats in California’s first gubernatorial debate since Eric Swalwell was forced out of the race due to sexual misconduct allegations.

It also follows the Trump administration’s efforts to push states to become stricter on CDL distribution and a flurry of news headlines and Homeland Security reports highlighting fatal tractor-trailer crashes by illegal immigrants who struggle to speak enough English.

“Racial profiling is illegal. And, in fact, preying on people based on the color of their skin in the state of California is illegal,” Democratic megadonor and billionaire businessman Tom Steyer said when asked if he would support a policy requiring police to issue language proficiency tests to truck drivers on the side of the road.

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California gubernatorial candidates entered debate for the first time since Eric Swalwell withdrew from the race amid sexual misconduct allegations. (Jason Henry/Nexstar/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“Is this officer asking everyone he stops to explain these road signs? Or is he only asking people who look like me? If he’s doing that, then he’s breaking the law,” said former Biden administration Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Beccera, lambasting a police officer in a short local news clip aired at the start of the issue showing an officer conducting a field test to determine whether a commercial driver who spoke Spanish could understand the signs signaling.

Meanwhile, Sheriff Chad Bianco, California’s Republican gubernatorial candidate, criticized his Democratic opponents for pulling the racial map.

“Let’s stop with this whole racism thing, racial profiling and all this bullshit. We need to get over this. Either you broke the law or you didn’t. End of story,” Bianco said. “Consequences of bad behavior.”

The Department of Transportation announced in October that it would withhold $40 million from California, arguing that the state has failed to meet the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s English Language Proficiency (ELP) standards.

Funding was withdrawn after an audit found a number of states were illegally issuing licenses to foreigners, including failing to ensure drivers spoke sufficient English. In California alone, the audit found, more than 25 percent of non-domiciled CDLs examined were issued improperly.

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In August, a fatal accident involving an 18-wheeler driven by an illegal immigrant occurred after an illegal U-turn made by the foreign driver. Subsequent investigations revealed that the driver was not proficient in English. “This is a devastating tragedy, made even worse by the fact that it was completely preventable,” White House Press Secretary Abigail Jackson told Fox News Digital at the time. “Illegal aliens who have no legal right to reside in our country should certainly not be granted a commercial driver’s license.”

Bekzhan Beishekeev, a 30-year-old Kyrgyz national, is believed to have been involved in an accident that left four people dead in Indiana. (Fox News/DHS)

In response to Bianco telling fellow Democrats to “stop with this whole racism thing,” Democratic candidate and former California Congresswoman Katie Porter said she was “stunned” that he would say such a thing.

“I’m amazed that Mr. Bianco is telling black and brown Californians and immigrants who are being terrorized and racially profiled that we have to ‘overcome’ racism. It’s not something you ‘overcome,’ it’s something you ‘fight’. If he doesn’t understand the importance of that, he has no business representing a state with the diversity of California,” Porter said when asked if she supports enforcing rules for law enforcement to issue language proficiency tests to truck drivers.

Matt Mahan, the former mayor of San Jose, also said he would not support the policy, but he and Porter both suggested the DMV could use some oversight.

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“No,” Mahan said when asked if he supports the policy to test truck drivers’ language skills. “The right answer here, clearly, is to hold the DMV accountable for ensuring that every driver on our road meets the required qualifications for the licenses they have. They are the appropriate entity to do this.”

When the moderator asked Mahan for a clearer answer as to whether he would support law enforcement checking truck drivers’ language skills on the road, he dodged the question.

“It’s not about whether you speak English,” Mahan continued. “What the DMV is charged with doing is not testing your English level, but whether or not you are a safe driver who understands the rules.”

People walk in the rain in front of the Arleta DMV office in California on Thursday, November 20, 2025. (Hans Gutknecht/MediaNews Group/The Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images)

“Protecting Californians also involves enforcing traffic laws and we have seen a need for oversight in California at times,” Porter also said. “For example, we found that the Department of Motor Vehicles was not enforcing rules regarding drunk driving and drivers convicted of it.”