FMCSA Is Not Playing Defense Anymore

INDUSTRY NEWS  |  REGULATIONS

By SafetyLane Magazine Editorial Staff  —  March 27, 2026

Inside the Agency’s Sweeping Crackdown on Chameleon Carriers, CDL Mills, Freight Fraud, and the Enforcement Machine Now Running Parallel Investigations

If you have been watching FMCSA from the outside over the past several months and wondering whether the enforcement signals coming out of Washington were political theater or a genuine operational shift — this week’s developments at the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville should answer that question.

In back-to-back disclosures, FMCSA Administrator Derek Barrs and the agency’s Office of Compliance director Tom Liberatore confirmed what compliance professionals have suspected for months: the agency is running multiple concurrent specialized investigations, it is doing so in coordination with federal law enforcement, and the problems it is uncovering are bigger — and more deeply rooted — than even agency leadership anticipated.

This is not a drill. If you operate a motor carrier, manage a fleet, hold a non-domiciled CDL, run a third-party training program, or use an ELD from a smaller provider, the enforcement environment has changed materially. Here is what you need to know.

THE SCOPE OF THE PROBLEM: BIGGER THAN ANYONE EXPECTED

Derek Barrs, who has been heading FMCSA since his Senate confirmation in October, came to the role with years of commercial enforcement experience from the Florida Highway Patrol. Even with that background, he was not fully prepared for what he found.

Barrs told reporters this week that the agency has seen measurable increases in both non-domiciled CDL activity and what FMCSA believes are chameleon carrier networks — and that the scale of the problem exceeded his prior expectations. “This is more than what I thought and do not ever remember anything like this before,” he said.

The backdrop matters. Since a fatal crash in Florida involving a non-English-speaking driver operating with a non-domiciled CDL drew national attention in August 2025, a series of additional tragedies followed — crashes in California, Oregon, and Indiana — each involving drivers who had obtained non-domiciled CDLs and each raising serious questions about how those licenses were issued in the first place. Those incidents set the enforcement agenda that is now playing out at a federal level.

“This is more than what I thought and do not ever remember anything like this before.” — FMCSA Administrator Derek Barrs

WHAT FMCSA IS ACTUALLY INVESTIGATING RIGHT NOW

At the MATS fraud panel — led by Tom Liberatore and including FMCSA’s IT director Ankur Saini, training specialist Shannon Chelf, and OOIDA Executive Vice President Lewie Pugh — the agency was unusually candid about the breadth of its current enforcement posture.

Liberatore confirmed that the agency currently has open investigations covering chameleon carriers, identity theft, registration issues, fraudulent ELD devices, and Entry-Level Driver Training (ELDT) violations — and that specifics could not be disclosed because those matters are active.

He described the operation in precise terms: “We have half a dozen concurrent specialized operations covering everything from principal place of business issues to chameleon carriers to cabotage to CDL issuance.” And critically, FMCSA is not working these cases alone. The agency is actively cooperating with the FBI, ATF, DOJ, and DHS in areas where those agencies carry broader law enforcement authority.

Liberatore also confirmed that the agency recently launched a new vetting process for ELDs that is already producing results — blocking new registrations and re-registrations of previously revoked devices. Since September, 280 ELD registrations have been blocked. That figure is not trivial. It reflects a class of enforcement the agency had historically deprioritized, and it signals that the ELD compliance space is now under the same scrutiny as carrier registration.

CHAMELEON CARRIERS: WHAT FMCSA IS SEEING ON THE GROUND

Barrs described chameleon carrier networks that are more elaborate than most carriers realize. FMCSA has identified single addresses tied to more than 100 separate companies — including, in one documented case, an address located on an interstate highway itself. “How in the world can you run a business from the interstate?” Barrs noted, underscoring that the principal place of business problem is not a paperwork technicality. It is a fraud indicator.

The political response has followed. Senator Jim Banks of Indiana urged the DOT to take more aggressive action on chameleon carriers following the quadruple-fatal Indiana crash. Wyoming Representative Harriet Hageman introduced legislation to eliminate chameleon carrier operations — legislation that earned the endorsement of the Teamsters Union. And President Trump used his State of the Union address to introduce “Dalilah’s Law,” calling on Congress to bar any state from issuing commercial driver’s licenses to individuals in the country illegally.

The legislative pressure and the enforcement pressure are now running in parallel. That is not a coincidence.

“I am not willing, in the role I have at FMCSA, to compromise safety just to put someone in the seat of a truck.” — Administrator Barrs

CDL MILLS: THE TRAINING FRAUD PROBLEM IS WORSE THAN THE NUMBERS SUGGEST

In February, DOT announced that more than 550 commercial driving schools would be shut down after investigations found unqualified instructors and inadequate student testing. But the problem extends beyond inadequate instruction. Barrs disclosed this week that investigators entered training facilities that had no curriculum at all — not reduced instruction, not shortcuts, but literally zero course content.

For motor carriers, this creates a direct compliance exposure. A driver holding a CDL issued through a fraudulent training pathway may have never actually demonstrated the competencies required by 49 CFR Part 383. When that driver is behind the wheel of one of your vehicles, his or her qualification file does not protect you — it implicates you.

The FMCSA’s in-person audit program for training providers is ongoing. If you are credentialing drivers who obtained their CDLs through smaller or lesser-known schools, this is the moment to verify that those schools remain in good standing on the Training Provider Registry.

FREIGHT FRAUD: THE FINANCIAL REALITY BEHIND THE ENFORCEMENT PUSH

Liberatore put a number on the scope of the fraud problem: the agency estimates freight fraud and cargo theft cost the industry between $750 million and $1 billion annually. That figure is what is driving the intensity of the current enforcement push.

For smaller carriers and owner-operators, the risk is not abstract. FMCSA compliance specialist Shannon Chelf, who spent 20 years with the Kentucky State Police before joining the agency, offered a sobering assessment of how pervasive fraud has become. He described operating with extreme skepticism when reviewing complaints — taking nothing at face value — because the fraud he encounters routinely involves identity theft in some form. “Nothing is as it seems,” he said.

His guidance for carriers who become fraud victims is direct: file a police report, and then upload that report to FMCSA’s National Consumer Complaint Database (NCCDB). That documentation is the starting point for any meaningful federal action.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR COMPLIANT CARRIERS

The enforcement environment FMCSA is now operating in rewards carriers who have their compliance infrastructure in place and creates serious exposure for those who do not. Specifically:

Non-domiciled CDL holders: Verify the current status of every non-domiciled CDL in your fleet against the latest FMCSA eligibility requirements. The March 2026 final rule has materially narrowed the category of foreign nationals eligible to hold these licenses.

Principal place of business: If your carrier registration reflects a shared address, a virtual address, or an address that cannot support the physical record inspection requirements FMCSA now enforces, that is an issue that needs to be corrected before it becomes an investigation.

ELD compliance: If you are using an ELD provider you cannot positively verify remains on the active federal registry, check the FMCSA website now. With 280 registrations blocked since September, the probability that a smaller provider has been removed is not negligible.

Fraud victims: If you have been victimized by double brokering, identity theft, or cargo fraud — report it. The NCCDB is not a black hole right now. The agency has made clear it is actively working those complaints with law enforcement partners.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Barrs closed his public remarks with a clear statement of direction: under Secretary Sean Duffy’s leadership and his own mandate at FMCSA, the expectation is to clean up the existing mess and make the highway system as safe as possible. He was equally direct on the safety rationale: “I am not willing, in the role I have at FMCSA, to compromise safety just to put someone in the seat of a truck.”

For the compliant carrier — the one who runs a real office, employs qualified drivers, maintains accurate DQ files, and uses certified ELDs — this enforcement environment is not a threat. It is long overdue. The operators who have been cutting corners on registration, driver qualification, and ELD compliance have been competing unfairly against you for years. That dynamic is being corrected.

Stay ahead of the curve. Stay compliant. Stay on Safety Lane.

Disclaimer

This article is intended for informational and editorial purposes only and does not constitute legal advice, regulatory guidance, or an official interpretation of Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) policies or federal law. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy and timeliness of the information presented, regulatory developments, enforcement priorities, and legal interpretations may change without notice.

Readers are strongly encouraged to consult directly with qualified legal counsel, compliance professionals, or official FMCSA resources before making business, safety, or operational decisions based on the content of this publication.

SafetyLane Magazine and CellEx Consulting Group, Inc. do not assume any liability for actions taken or not taken based on the information provided in this article. References to enforcement activities, investigations, or regulatory trends are based on publicly available information and industry analysis and should not be interpreted as definitive or exhaustive.

All opinions expressed herein reflect the editorial perspective of SafetyLane Magazine and are not necessarily representative of any government agency or regulatory body. 

ABOUT CELLEX

SafetyLane Magazine is a publication of CellEx Consulting Group, Inc., a national transportation safety and compliance consulting firm serving motor carriers across the United States. CellEx offers the Dedicated Compliance Advisory Program , mock FMCSA safety audits, DOT drug and alcohol testing, driver qualification file management, DataQs dispute filing, and carrier licensing and registration services.