Operation Guardian Nabs 40+ Foreign Truckers in 15-State CDL Dragnet

More than 40 foreign truck drivers were arrested among 230 undocumented immigrants in a 72-hour, 15-state enforcement operation that Oklahoma ran Oct. 26-28, targeting holders of unauthorized commercial driver licenses. Officials are calling it the first large multistate bust of its kind.

Dubbed Operation Guardian, the dragnet stretched from the Canadian border across the Midwest and South to the Gulf Coast. Oklahoma coordinated with Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee and Texas, pairing state troopers with federal immigration agents.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and Oklahoma Public Safety Commissioner Tim Tipton announced the results at Melton Truck Lines in Tulsa, framing the operation as a public safety measure while commending trained truckers and professional carriers like Melton.

Why did 15 states act at once?

The answer is social media. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol has operated under an agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement for more than a year, with commercial vehicle immigration enforcement operations launched in September 2025. Troopers focused on trucks hauling eastbound freight on Interstate 40 and on Oklahoma's ports of entry.

But drivers were tipping each other off. Tipton said state intelligence analysts saw warnings posted as soon as troopers began enforcement. "Our goal was to stop diverting," Tipton said. "Our intel analysts would immediately start seeing social media posts and things like that from the East and West Coast telling each other that 'Hey, Oklahoma is back at it again. Divert, go around Oklahoma.'"

Running enforcement simultaneously across 15 states closed the bypass routes. Russell Hott, ICE assistant director, said the agency's CDL enforcement has focused on drivers with final orders of removal — people who completed immigration proceedings but stayed anyway. "These are individuals who had their day in court, who had due process and the opportunity to present additional evidence," Hott said. "They were ordered removed and refused to go."

What else turned up in the stops?

The arrests went beyond immigration status. Individuals were picked up on outstanding felony warrants and in cases involving domestic assault, driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and suspected human trafficking.

In one incident, an undocumented immigrant from Honduras was stopped while allegedly driving a stolen vehicle. Authorities said the suspect assaulted an Oklahoma trooper — who suffered a dislocated elbow and broken arm — before fleeing. A four-hour manhunt ended with the suspect found hiding in a tree, allegedly with illegal drugs in his possession.

The undocumented drivers came from countries including Armenia, Brazil, China, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, India, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Peru and Ukraine.

Tipton said Oklahoma intends to keep running the operations, targeting not only unauthorized drivers but the trucking companies and brokers that use them. Troopers have also uncovered other alleged criminal conduct during the stops. "It's just not that they're here illegally, it's just that they're driving a truck, they're untrained and shouldn't even be in the truck, but we find other criminal conduct as well," Tipton said.

What did Indiana find?

Most participating agencies did not publicize their results. Indiana State Police did, noting its officers "targeted secondary and bypass routes to eliminate avenues criminals typically use to evade high-level enforcement activities on major interstate corridors."

Indiana's numbers from the operation:

• Just over 500 commercial vehicles inspected
• 85 vehicles ordered out of service
• 51 drivers removed from behind the wheel
• 8 drivers placed out of service for violating English-language proficiency regulations
• 28 arrests on criminal offenses, totaling 36 charges
• Seized narcotics: 124.5 pounds of cannabis, 6.1 grams of methamphetamine and 1.3 grams of fentanyl

For carriers and brokers, the message is blunt: the enforcement net now spans half the country, and the supply chain side of the equation is in scope. With Tipton promising continued operations against the companies and brokers that put unauthorized drivers on the road, compliance exposure extends well past the cab.