Federal authorities, working with state and local partners, hit the highways in 15 states to identify illegal immigrants driving big rigs and other public safety threats and take them off the roads.
The three-day enforcement effort, called Operation Guardian, resulted in the arrests of more than 230 illegal immigrants and 40 with commercial driver’s licenses.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin returned to his home state of Oklahoma to announce the results of Operation Guardian, which took place Oct. 26-28 across 15 states.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement partnered with state and local law enforcement in a 72-hour operation targeting illegal drivers and other trucking industry violations.
“We’re going to protect our highways the same regardless of it’s a blue state or a red state,” Mullin said. “We are simply doing our job, and we’re happy to do it.”
During the press conference, Mullin spoke about failed sanctuary policies that continue to allow illegal immigrants back onto the streets and behind the wheel of commercial tractor-trailers.
The operation is a part of the Trump administration’s broader nationwide crackdown on illegal immigrants with non-domiciled commercial drivers’ licenses. A series of semi-truck crashes involving illegal immigrants brought the issue into the spotlight.
In September, ICE launched Operation Guardrail, a nationwide operation targeting commercial vehicles operating in violation of U.S. laws. As of Oct. 29, ICE has arrested 303 illegal immigrants as part of the enforcement effort.
From Jan. 20, 2025 to Oct. 28, 2026, ICE has made 4,795 CDL-related arrests nationwide and 1,233 arrests involving CDL holders, according to a DHS news release.
In one notable arrest, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol stopped a vehicle on I-35 after they observed the driver looking down at his cell phone while driving. The trooper ran the registration and discovered the vehicle had been reported stolen in Texas.
The driver, Luis Armando Garlo Rodriguez, an illegal immigrant from Honduras, resisted arrest and broke the trooper’s arm before fleeing on foot. It resulted in a four-hour manhunt in eastern Oklahoma, and additional officers tracked him down and arrested him, Mullin said.
ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations Tulsa has filed charges against Rodriguez for assaulting, resisting, and impeding certain officers or employees.
In another case, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol stopped a vehicle on I-40 and determined that all seven occupants were illegal immigrants, including a teenage girl investigators suspect was being trafficked.
Secretary Mullin Announces Results of Operation Guardian Crackdown on Illegal Aliens with Commercial Driver’s Licenses
Operation Guardian arrested more than 230 illegal aliens, including more than 40 CDL holders in 72 hours
WASHINGTON – On Monday, United States Department of… pic.twitter.com/AIlFnjHBks
— Johnette Cruz (@thejohnettecruz) November 3, 2026
The driver was Arturo Alvarado-Islas, an illegal alien from Mexico, who illegally entered the United States at an unknown date and location. Alvarado-Islas was turned over to ICE custody the same day.
The juvenile female entered the country as an unaccompanied minor under the Biden and was traveling with six males. No one knew where she was, Mullin said, adding the men in the car had criminal records or final removal orders and were under investigation for human trafficking.
“Here’s a young girl, 17, who has been trafficked for years, and you still want to say that sanctuary policy is a good thing?” Mullin said. “If that doesn’t break your heart, I don’t know what does. If that doesn’t wake you up, then what does?”
He added “that should piss everybody off. I don’t care if you’re Republican, Democrat, independent. I don’t care who you are.”
In 2025, the U.S. Department of Transportation launched a nationwide probe into illegal drivers with CDLs and how they obtained them.
A nationwide audit by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration uncovered systemic failures with states issuing non-domiciled CDLs to illegal immigrants as well as shady trucking schools and chameleon carriers that hire unqualified drivers.
Issuing CDLs to individuals that are not qualified to drive or who cannot speak English or read road signs creates a hazard for drivers across the country, Mullin said.
“The Democrats who were in charge of this, in my opinion, should be held liable for it,” Mullin said during the press conference. “I don’t know why it’s even controversial to be having this conversation. It should be really simple for these states to be able to revoke these drivers’ licenses that they issued and tens of thousands of them.”
In some cases, state DMVs issued CDLs without verifying documentation or conducting in-person driving and English proficiency tests.
States also frequently issued CDLs to foreign drivers with expiration dates well beyond their actual lawful stay or work authorization in the U.S. The gave out licenses to drivers with ineligible immigration statuses or have “no name given” on the license.
“How is that even possible?” Mullin said of a license with “no name given.” “How can you get any ID much less drive a semi on the road and put the lives of the people around you at risk. And it’s frustrating because we see this all the time.”
Mullin was joined by ICE officials and other trucking industry leaders at the headquarters of Melton Truck Lines, in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
ICE Assistant Director Russell Hott said ICE continues to arrest illegal commercial vehicle drivers in states like California, Illinois, New York, New Jersey and Maryland.
“The trucking industry serves as the backbone for America’s critical infrastructure, facilitating the transportation of goods and services to locations nationwide,” Hott said. “However, there are foreign trucking companies that have taken advantage and exploited regulatory loopholes along the way. I am proud to say Immigration and Customs Enforcement is targeting those illegal drivers with unauthorized CDLs.”
In many cases, those arrested have committed “egregious crimes,” including drug trafficking, theft, burglary, sexual assault, child abuse, domestic battery, fraud and “many, many DUI convictions,” Hott said. They have also focused on arresting illegal immigrants with final orders of removal.
ICE arrested over 710 CDL individuals in Oklahoma alone, Hott said, adding “That statistic is astonishing to me.”
The states that participated were Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee and Texas.
Officials in Arkansas conducted another round of Operation Highway Shield, Landline Media reported. Law enforcement partners identified a total of 330 unqualified or unauthorized drivers. Of those, 183 drivers were disqualified for English-language proficiency violations, with 74 immigration violations leading to further enforcement.
Tim Tipton, commissioner of public safety in Oklahoma, said he’s always amazed at not only the number of people driving these trucks who are untrained and unvetted, but the various countries where they come from.
In this operation, law enforcement identified drivers from Armenia, Brazil, China, Colombia, El Salvador, Georgia, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Kazikstan, Mongolia, Peru and Ukraine.
“Most of them crossed the border during the Biden administration and were released, as the secretary, said on parole and given a permit and then they’ve gone and gotten these licenses,” Tipton said.
Mullin added the Democratic policy agenda has created a safe haven for criminal activity, including fraudulent trucking companies involved in drug trafficking, cargo theft and unsafe or illegal trucking practices.
Described as “chameleon carriers,” these trucking companies hire illegal drivers, drive down the wages of legal drivers and dodge DOT regulations. Mullin highlighted Melton, a reputable company that is following the rules.
“They wreak havoc on companies that are doing it right,” Mullin said. “We are trying to restore law and order again. We are trying to take these unsafe drivers off the roads.”
