Warrant issued, ICE notified for Minnesota trucker going wrong way in Missouri
The truck driver with a Minnesota commercial driver’s license (CDL) who drove the wrong way on a Missouri highway Wednesday has been charged, and there’s a warrant out for his arrest.
A…
The truck driver with a Minnesota commercial driver’s license (CDL) who drove the wrong way on a Missouri highway Wednesday has been charged, and there’s a warrant out for his arrest.
A citizen started recording video after they were almost hit by the big rig going the wrong direction on U.S. 61 north of Troy, Missouri. The Missouri State Highway Patrol (MSHP) responded and stopped the truck but no arrests were made at the scene.
This just happened. Highway 61, north of Troy MO about 5 miles. This foreign invader was driving southbound in the northbound lane for about 3 miles. as I was going northbound, he nearly hit me head on before I pulled over to my left. I got on the southbound lane to follow him. pic.twitter.com/hyVU8vGizH
— MolonLabeBTC (@BtcLabe) February 25, 2026
“The driver had a valid CDL license, from the state of Minnesota, which would allow him to operate the vehicle in the U.S. and Missouri,” MSHP’s Cpl. Dallas Thompson told Heartlander News. “During the stop, there were no signs of impairment or medical issues. The driver was issued a citation for driving the wrong way.
“Our commercial vehicle enforcement troopers conducted a driver inspection and determined the driver could not properly identify road signs as mandated by federal motor carrier regulations. Per federal motor carrier guidelines, he was placed out of service and not allowed to continue driving. No physical arrest was made for any violations,” Thompson said.
Lincoln County Prosecutor Mike Wood charged Abdiasis Ibrahim Ali, 38, with two misdemeanors: 1) driving the wrong direction on a divided highway and 2) operating a motor vehicle in a careless and imprudent manner. A no-bond warrant for his arrest was issued Thursday morning and Wood said Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had been notified.
The prosecutor said when Ali was placed out of service his co-driver, Abdulahi Abshir Alim, who was in the “sleeper” at the time, took over.
“I’d like to thank the troopers who were quick to respond to help ensure the safety of our roadways and to the citizen who stopped to provide information and video evidence of this incident to law enforcement,” Wood said.
The wrong-way incident comes as a bill to criminalize a CDL driver’s failure to demonstrate English proficiency is making its way through the Missouri House.
The Uniform Commercial Driver’s License Act would modify commercial driver’s license requirements by also assuring the drivers understand highway traffic signs.
Drivers who fail to meet these standards would face escalating penalties, beginning with a class D misdemeanor and a $1,000 fine for a first offense, which increases to a class B misdemeanor for subsequent violations. Additionally, commercial motor carriers would be subject to a $3,000 fine for each violation.
Missouri’s Transportation Committee held a public hearing for the bill on Tuesday.
Gabriele Eissner of the Migrant and Immigrant Community Action Project urged the committee to oppose the bill, noting English proficiency is already a federal requirement. Eissner pointed out many legal residents, such as refugees and asylum seekers, are authorized to work federally but would be impacted by the bill’s citizenship requirements.
Other critics of the bill called the it “petty and hateful,” arguing citizenship and English skills have no impact on driving ability in an era of instant translation.
Transportation chair Rep. Josh Hurlbert says Missouri needs the bill to ensure the safety of citizens out on the road.
“It’s clear that we must hold truck drivers, who may be hauling loads of up to 80,000 pounds, to a higher safety standard than those drivers driving passenger vehicles,” Hurlbert said. And the Missouri House is taking action to keep Missouri’s roads safe.
“Too many states, like Minnesota, where the trucker that was driving the wrong way in Lincoln County was from, or Illinois, where the U.S. Department of Transportation recently found 1-in-5 CDLs were illegally issued, have chosen to play politics with their CDLs and have put Americans at risk. It is important to note that the trucking associations are supporting this bill, as they also want safer roads and to weed out these bad actors.
“I am committed to protecting Missourians in my capacity as chairman, and HB 2741 puts up safeguards to ensure that the commercial driver next to you on the highway meets all of the requirements to be highly trained and dependable that Missourians expect.”
The legislation follows the spirit of “Delilah’s Law,” a federal proposal President Trump highlighted during Tuesday’s State of the Union address. That law is named for Delilah Coleman, a young girl who suffered life-changing injuries in a crash caused by an illegal alien.
