Maineville, Ohio, a small village located roughly 25 miles from the hometown of Vice President JD Vance, is experiencing significant disruptions and safety concerns due to a proliferation of trucking companies, many reportedly operated by non-citizen drivers. These issues gained national attention following a fatal crash on Interstate 71 near Columbus on July 5, where a big rig struck a Honda Accord, killing 21-year-old Toby Forsythe. The truck's driver, Bekhzod Asrarov, 42, an Uzbek national who entered the U.S. in 2024 via a diversity visa, reportedly could not communicate in English and is accused of tampering with evidence.
"I’ve never seen it this bad or this blatant. We get videos all the time from drivers at truck stops filming somebody literally tearing off the [vehicle identification] numbers on the side of their truck and putting a new one on." Tom Balzer, President of the Ohio Trucking Association
The crash underscored a broader pattern in Maineville, where federal registrations list 267 active trucking companies in a village of only about 1,500 residents. A review of U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) records for carriers in Butler and Warren counties revealed dozens of Uzbek-owned companies listing shared residential addresses. For instance, Badri B LLC reported owning 23,001 trucks from a single apartment in Loveland, Ohio, while Shod Express LLC, operating from one apartment unit in West Chester, reported 41 million miles in 2025 across 52 drivers. This mileage averages about 854,000 miles per driver annually, significantly higher than the industry standard of approximately 110,000 miles for a hard-running solo driver.
Industry experts refer to this pattern as "chameleon companies," where operators register new entities, often using the same addresses and phone numbers, to escape poor safety records. A local resident described the practice, claiming, "When [a trucking company] has too many violations, and they can’t get any more loads because they’re flagged as an unsafe carrier, they will just open a new company so they can keep going." Tom Balzer, president of the Ohio Trucking Association, corroborated these claims, stating, "I’ve never seen it this bad or this blatant. We get videos all the time from drivers at truck stops filming somebody literally tearing off the [vehicle identification] numbers on the side of their truck and putting a new one on." Balzer also noted that carriers inflate mileage or truck counts to appear safer and competitive.
Federal agencies have initiated a response to these growing concerns. In late August, the DOT and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) launched a joint effort targeting non-citizen truckers holding non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs). As part of this initiative, officials announced the closure of 270 CDL schools nationwide due to safety violations, missing facilities, and failures to meet English proficiency requirements. Federal officials reported that crashes involving non-domiciled truckers resulted in at least 30 fatalities in 2025.
Beyond the trucking safety issues, the region has also seen connections to other criminal activities. In February, Bekzhan Beishekeev, 30, of Kyrgyzstan, obtained his CDL in Pennsylvania before driving into a van carrying 15 Amish construction workers, killing four, just across the Indiana line from Butler County. He faces multiple felony charges. Last year, federal prosecutors indicted Bekhzod Rakhmatov, 30, an Uzbek national from Maineville, in a human smuggling scheme. Authorities allege he arranged international transit and border entry for migrants, reportedly receiving up to $20,000 per person. Rakhmatov has not yet entered a plea. In August, Maineville trucker Shakrat Abshukurov, 44, who spoke no English, was found guilty of kidnapping and raping a 13-year-old girl in 2019.
Residents of Maineville describe daily disruptions impacting their quality of life. They report semis cutting across yards, flattening mailboxes, and causing increased noise and pollution. A planned expansion of a local rental lot was halted due to complaints about 200 big rigs parked on Grandin Road. Some residents have also claimed that men in trucks have been seen watching young girls and soliciting them for sex outside local businesses.
The issue of CDL issuance to non-citizens is a central point of contention. Ohio requires English proficiency for a license and does not issue CDLs to non-citizens. However, a community source claimed that Maineville drivers organize rides to a Department of Motor Vehicles in Coney Island, Brooklyn, to obtain their licenses, alleging that New York issues CDLs to illegal immigrants. Screenshots from a Maineville trucker group chat reportedly show drivers warning each other about roadside immigration checkpoints and English proficiency inspections. In April, the DOT announced it would withhold more than $73 million in federal highway funding from New York for refusing to revoke CDLs issued to foreign nationals. A spokesman for New York Governor Kathy Hochul responded, stating that "CDL policy is set in Washington, not Albany, and New York follows these federally-issued rules when issuing commercial drivers licenses, something that even the President Trump Administration has acknowledged."
Nationally, inspectors pulled 10,000 drivers out of service last year for not speaking English. DOT figures suggest that an additional 200,000 migrant truckers could lose their licenses after the administration tightened CDL rules in March. The named trucking companies did not respond to requests for comment regarding these allegations. The situation in Maineville highlights the complex interplay of immigration policy, commercial regulations, public safety, and local community impact.
