New York Post report exposes the ‘rapidly colonized’ hometown of V.P. Vance by illegal trucking companies 

Thousands of migrants from Uzbekistan have “colonized” the southern Ohio hometown of Vice President JD Vance, while operating commercial trucking companies linked to the July 5 death of 21-year-old Tobias “Toby” Forsythe on Interstate 71, according to a new report.

New York Post reporter Chadwick Moore’s findings, drawn from DOT records, court documents, and local accounts, focus on Maineville, a village of about 1,500 residents roughly 25 miles from Vance’s hometown described in “Hillbilly Elegy.”

Writing that the area “has been rapidly colonized by thousands of migrants from Uzbekistan who run shady, accident-prone trucking operations with glaring red flags for safety violations,” Moore reports that Maineville “became an overnight freight hub with 267 active commercial trucking companies registered in the village of just 1,500 residents.”

New from me: JD Vance’s tiny hometown is overrun with illegal migrants from Uzbekistan who run hundreds of shady trucking companies https://t.co/33DimX4u2p

— Chadwick Moore (@Chadwick_Moore) October 8, 2026

Noting that two or more trucking companies are registered at each of 22 residential addresses in Maineville, and that 16 companies are registered at one West Chester address, Moore describes the pattern as “chameleon companies,” whose operators “easily escape their accident-prone, violation-riddled driving record by simply registering a new company through the DOT, usually under the same address and phone number.”

Federal filings cited in the story include one Loveland company, Badri B LLC, that “reported on federal Department of Transportation paperwork to own 23,001 trucks — all operating out of a single apartment.” Another, Shod Express LLC, “claimed 41 million miles in 2025 across 52 drivers,” which industry experts told the Post works out to about 854,000 miles per driver.

Phoenix Cargo “claimed nearly 80 million miles in 2026 across 395 trucks.”

The article, which notes that Ohio requires English proficiency and does not issue commercial licenses to non-citizens, exposes a taxi pipeline to Brooklyn, New York.

According to Moore, “Maineville’s Uzbeks organize ‘taxis’ to Brooklyn, NY — specifically a DMV in Coney Island — in order to obtain their CDLs.” He also reported group-chat messages in which drivers advised one another on how to avoid Ohio’s English-proficiency checkpoints.

The story links the network to the July 5 death of 21-year-old Tobias “Toby” Forsythe on Interstate 71.

According to the report, Bekhzod Asrarov of Maineville, an Uzbek national who entered under the diversity visa lottery and held an Ohio CDL, “was unable to communicate in English and faces charges of tampering with evidence after cops said he attempted to hide his dash cam.” The report also cites a human-smuggling indictment of Maineville resident Bekhzod Rakhmatov and the conviction of Shavkat Abshukurov in a 2019 rape case.

Moore, who attributed higher crash risks to non-domiciled license holders, cited Ohio Trucking Association president Tom Balzer.

“There’s a direct correlation between non-domiciled CDL holders and accidents,” Balzer told the publication.

The article follows statewide efforts by the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles to remove non-domiciled CDL drivers, as well as federal efforts by Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy to tighten enforcement.

DOT Secretary Sean Duffy @secduffy laid out several goals he wants to spearhead into trucking during his address at MATS

– English-only testing.
– Chameleon carriers crackdown.
– Fraud enforcement.

Hear more on the big changes he sees ahead in trucking on the latest… pic.twitter.com/6cqUtucdLv

— FreightWaves (@FreightWaves) April 2, 2026

According to the report, the named companies did not respond to requests for comment.

Chameleon carriers are trucking companies that evade safety enforcement actions to continue operating on our roads. These are bad actors flooding the highways with dangerous drivers while driving down the wages of our own domestic workforce. My bill, the SAFE Act, cracks down on… pic.twitter.com/IZjdDai0DZ

— Rep. Harriet Hageman (@RepHageman) October 7, 2026