[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 27 (Monday, February 9, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Page S529]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                    Department of Homeland Security

  Mr. BANKS. Mr. President, on February 3, an illegal immigrant from 
Kyrgyzstan who was allowed into the United States under Joe Biden in 
2023 killed four people on State Road 67 in Indiana--not far from where 
I live.
  He drove a semitruck head-on into a van. That van was carrying a 50-
year-old father and two boys who were only 19 and 25 years old, along 
with a family friend, and they were all from a local Amish community, 
and now they are all dead.
  I am angry about it. I have had enough of it because it is stories 
like this that show why mass deportations matter and why they are 
needed now more than ever. At least seven Hoosiers have died on Indiana 
highways in the past 6 months because of illegal immigrants recklessly 
driving on our roads and at least eight more have been seriously 
injured and those are just the cases that I know about.
  In November, an illegal immigrant with a fake green card crashed his 
SUV into a van killing the 76-year-old driver from Decatur--again, not 
far from Columbia City where I live--before fleeing the scene. The 
illegal immigrant also seriously injured three innocent drivers in that 
same crash.
  Shortly before that accident, an illegal immigrant who was driving 
drunk and without a license crashed his car into two young parents who 
were on their way to pick up their kids from their grandparents' house. 
The young couple was seriously injured. I have seen images of the 
wreck, and they are lucky to be alive.
  Just a couple of days before that, an illegal immigrant from the 
country of Georgia was driving a truck and towing a trailer when he 
swerved abruptly and forced a military Humvee off the road. That crash 
killed Hoosier National Guardsman Terry Frye and seriously injured 
three others. Terry was just 23 years old.
  In October, an illegal immigrant driving a semitruck killed a 54-
year-old man on Highway 20 in Indiana when he failed to stop in 
traffic. That illegal immigrant had a fake trucking license and opened 
a trucking company that received a $35,000 loan in taxpayer dollars 
funded through PPP.
  At least seven innocent Hoosiers have died in their own State because 
of illegal-immigrant drivers. Every single one of these deaths were 
preventable. Every single one of these deaths happened because someone 
who shouldn't have been in our country in the first place got behind 
the wheel and killed American citizens.
  Most of the deaths were at the hands of illegal immigrants driving 
semitrucks. Trucking is an incredibly important industry in my State 
because Indiana sits at the crossroads of the country. In fact, our 
State motto is literally ``The Crossroads of America.''
  Indiana is the fifth busiest State in the country for commercial 
traffic freight. Each year, 724 million tons of freight travels through 
Indiana.
  I speak to truckers regularly, and they are outraged by what is 
happening. One of my friends who works in the trucking industry said 
many trucking companies are hiring illegal immigrants to drive their 
trucks because they can pay them less. That takes jobs away from hard-
working Americans. They would rather take care of their bottom line 
than put safe and trustworthy drivers out on the road.
  We have to hold those trucking companies accountable for endangering 
us all. In fact, the truck that killed four Hoosiers last week belonged 
to a shady trucking company that the industry refers to as a 
``chameleon carrier.'' ``Chameleon carriers'' are trucking companies 
that after being shut down or heavily fined by the Federal Motor 
Carrier Safety Administration, just disguise themselves by changing 
their name or address or Department of Transportation number to 
continue operating.
  Many of these ``chameleon carriers'' are run by foreign nationals. 
The Government Accountability Office has said that ``chameleon 
carriers'' are three times more likely to be involved in serious 
crashes than legitimate operators.
  Not only are illegal immigrants and foreign nationals running illicit 
trucking companies but Democrat States like California and New York and 
Pennsylvania are giving out commercial driver's licenses to illegal 
immigrants like they are Halloween candy.
  In fact, 50 percent of CDLs reviewed by the Department of 
Transportation in New York had been issued improperly.
  The driver of the truck that killed Indiana National Guardsman Terry 
Frye got his CDL from New York after he was waved across the border by 
the Biden administration in 2022. When police arrived at the scene of 
the crash, they reported there was a ``language barrier'' and that a 
translator was needed at the scene.
  How could anyone give this guy a CDL to begin with? If he couldn't 
even talk to police, do we really believe that he could read our road 
and traffic signs? Do we really think that illegal immigrants who can't 
even speak English can obey our road rules?
  The law doesn't think so. Federal regulations require that commercial 
truck drivers be proficient in English. Think about how insane this is. 
You get into the country illegally, you are living in violation of 
Federal law, but Democrat politicians in blue States violate the law 
and let you drive an 18-wheeler across State lines.
  It is more than just insane. It is dangerous and deadly, and it is 
this reckless policy that is getting people killed in Indiana. So while 
Hoosiers are being killed in their own State by illegal immigrants, 
what are Democrats this week doing in Congress?
  They are trying to cut funding to ICE. They are working to prevent 
illegal immigrants from being taken off of our streets.
  We have a Federal Agency whose job it is to enforce immigration law 
and remove people who are here illegally, but Democrats want to defund 
that Agency. They want to tie ICE's hands while illegal-immigrant 
truckers are killing Americans on our highways. This is a deliberate 
choice to prioritize illegal immigrants over American citizens.
  This has to stop, and it has got to stop right now. We need to 
support President Trump's efforts to deport every illegal immigrant out 
of this country. We are not doing enough to get them off of our roads 
as you can see in my State of Indiana.
  Every day that we wait, every day that Democrats want to play petty 
politics, we run the risk of more Americans and more Hoosiers dying on 
our highways.
  ICE needs more resources, not fewer, so that we can get illegal 
immigrants off of our streets and out of semitrucks driving on our 
highways. Hoosiers have had enough. I have had enough. It is time that 
Congress starts acting like American lives were worth protecting.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Indiana.