Bresnahan backs Dalilah’s Law, urging tighter CDL rules after trooper’s death

MOOSIC, LACKAWANNA CO. (WOLF) - With members of both the Pennsylvania Motor Truck and State Troopers Associations alongside him, Congressman Rob Bresnahan is calling on his colleagues in the Nation's capital for stronger laws surrounding the requirements for a Commercial Driver's License or a CDL.

"We have seen far too many cases of people who are in this country illegally breaking our laws and causing devastating crashes that injure or kill innocent Americans," Bresnahan said.

This comes just two weeks after PA State Trooper Michael Pahira was struck and killed by a tractor-trailer while conducting a traffic stop on Interstate 81 in Schuylkill County.

The driver of that tractor-trailer, Michael Bon, is a Haitian national who was in the United States illegally and was issued a Commercial Driver's License from the State of Massachusetts back in March of 2025.

President of the PA Motor Truck Association, Rebecca Oyler, says that Bon should never have been behind the wheel of the truck, let alone have been issued a commercial license.

"When individuals who are not qualified, who obtain commercial licenses without meeting the standards established under federal law, are allowed behind the wheel, they put the public at risk and undermine the reputation of every professional driver who does follow the rules," Oyler said.

The proposed federal legislation, Dalilah's Law, is named after five-year-old Dalilah Coleman, who was struck and severely injured by an unqualified semi-truck driver in 2024 is aimed at tightening CDL standards and would require the issuance of CDLs only to United States residents, green card holders, and those with temporary work visas.

In addition, all the CDL knowledge and skills tests must be administered in complete English.

Despite the challenges tractor-trailer drivers face, including carrying upwards of 80,000 pounds, Bresnahan says the root cause is who is allowed to be behind the wheel of those vehicles.

"From my perspective and everything that I've seen, the illegal alien who murdered Trooper Pahira should never have been behind the wheel of a truck," Bresnahan said.