Earlier this year, President Donald Trump and the Department of Transportation took action to ensure that all commercial driver's license holders in this country have a basic proficiency in the English language.

On Thursday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced that nearly 7,250 commercial truck drivers have been removed from the roads for failing to meet the common-sense language proficiency standard, according to Breitbart.

The revelation comes amid controversy over multiple recent high-profile incidents in which foreign truck drivers with little or no understanding of the English language caused serious and fatal vehicular accidents that claimed the lives of innocent American citizens.

Truck drivers removed from America's roads

This week, Secretary Duffy posted on X a graphic that announced that, as of this month, at least 7,248 CDL holders have been taken out of service for failing to meet President Trump's English proficiency standard.

".@USDOT requires commercial truck drivers to speak and understand English to operate a big rig -- or they will be taken out of service," Duffy wrote. "This is about @POTUS and his administration making America’s roads SAFE again!"

Yet, while most of the commenters on the secretary's post supported such action, many asserted that far more foreign truckers with little or no English-speaking abilities remained on the roads, and many urged the Department to go after the companies that hire such drivers and the Democrat-led states that issued them commercial licenses.

Duffy implements Trump's order

It was in April that President Trump issued an executive order to fully enforce an existing federal law that requires truck drivers to have basic proficiency in English, a mandate that had gone unenforced for years following guidance issued near the end of the Obama administration.

Less than a month later, Secretary Duffy signed an order to rescind and replace the 2016 Obama guidance and, once again, enforce the existing law on language proficiency for CDL holders.

"America First means safety first. Americans are a lot safer on roads alongside truckers who can understand and interpret our traffic signs," Duffy said at the time. "This common-sense change ensures the penalty for failure to comply is more than a slap on the wrist."

Grant funding withheld

Breitbart noted that Sec. Duffy's announcement of how many English-deficient truck drivers have been taken off the roads comes shortly after a particularly egregious incident in California, in which a foreign driver licensed by the state slammed at full speed into a line of stopped vehicles on a highway, killing three people and hospitalizing two more.

"My prayers are with the families of the victims of this tragedy," Duffy said of the incident. "It would have never happened if Gavin Newsom had followed our new rules. California broke the law, and now three people are dead and two are hospitalized. These people deserve justice. There will be consequences."

Just one week earlier, the secretary had already begun to impose those consequences when he announced that $40 million in DOT grant funds had been withheld from California as a result of that state's refusal to abide by the English Language Proficiency standard, in that evidence showed that California had been issuing CDLs to foreign drivers with little or no ability to speak or understand the nation's language.

"I put states on notice this summer: enforce the Trump Administration’s English language requirements or the checks stop coming," the secretary said. "California is the only state in the nation that refuses to ensure big rig drivers can read our road signs and communicate with law enforcement. This is a fundamental safety issue that impacts you and your family on America’s road."

"Let me be clear -- this is valuable money that should be going to the great men and women in California law enforcement, who we support," Duffy added. "Gov. Newsom’s insistence on obstructing federal law has tied my hands."