The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure advanced H.R. 5688, Dalilah’s Law, on Wednesday, sending it to the House floor. The bill is named in honor of five-year-old Dalilah Coleman, who was hit and injured by an illegal immigrant driving a semitruck, and strengthens the requirements for Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) by ending CDLs for illegal immigrants lacking English proficiency, road rules, and safety knowledge.
“If you can’t read or write in English, you should not be able to drive. Especially a semitruck,” said Congressman Burchett. “Congress needs to put American lives above all else. Our roads should not be littered with illegal aliens operating heavy machinery and forever impacting the lives of innocent American children, like Dalilah Coleman.”
“Today we’re one step closer to safer roads for Dalilah Coleman, her family, and all Americans,” said Highways and Transit Subcommittee Chairman David Rouzer (R-NC), the legislation’s lead sponsor. “Ensuring each truck driver is qualified and legally operating will protect the public from these tragic, yet preventable accidents.
Dalilah’s father said in September that the multi-car pileup caused by the illegal immigrant left his daughter unable to walk, talk, eat orally, and attend kindergarten as the family had planned. She was in a coma for three weeks and needed six months of hospital treatment before she could go home. During her hospital stay, Dalilah had a craniectomy and was without half her skull for four months, the Department of Homeland Security explained.
President Trump paid tribute to Dalilah during his State of the Union address.
