By Jill McLaughlin
California announced on Dec. 30 it would delay revoking 17,000 commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) until March after the state was sued by immigrant truck drivers and business owners.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the delay would cost the state nearly $160 million more in federal funding.
“The deadline to revoke illegally issued unvetted foreign trucker licenses is still January 5,” Duffy posted on X. “California does NOT have an ‘extension’ to keep breaking the law and putting Americans at risk on the roads.”
California plans to work with federal transportation representatives to resolve concerns with commercial driver’s licensing before March 6, according to the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).
“Commercial drivers are an important part of our economy—our supply chains don’t move, and our communities don’t stay connected without them,” California DMV Director Steve Gordon said in a statement.
California sent out notices in November following an order by Duffy to revoke thousands of CDLs.
The state’s commercial driver’s license program was put in the national spotlight this year after several fatal semi-truck accidents across the country allegedly involved illegal immigrant drivers who obtained licenses in California.
In one of the most tragic cases in August, Harjinder Singh allegedly made an illegal U-turn while operating a semi-truck on the Florida Turnpike, about 50 miles outside of West Palm Beach, crashing into a minivan and killing three occupants inside. Singh, an illegal immigrant with a commercial driver’s license issued in California, was arrested in California a few days later.
A federal audit found that 17,000 trucking licenses were illegally issued in California. The audit found licenses that remained valid long after an immigrant’s work authorization had expired, and licenses that were issued even though the state could not document that the driver had a lawful immigration status.
Duffy called it “just the tip of the iceberg.”
After the DMV sent out cancellation letters last month, the Sikh Coalition, representing about 20,000 immigrant drivers and business owners in California, filed a lawsuit against the state on Dec. 22 in Los Angeles, seeking to obtain what the complaint describes as corrected commercial driver’s licenses and driving privileges.
The group claims canceling the licenses will leave thousands of “eligible drivers in the cold without any resolution” and the sudden disappearance of them from the roads would disrupt supply chains and services, according to the lawsuit.
Notices were issued to the foreign commercial driver’s license holders that their licenses no longer met federal requirements and would expire in 60 days.
California was also required to provide a full audit of all foreign CDLs for the federal agency to verify.
The U.S. Department of Transportation has already withheld $40 million from California after an investigation found the state failed to comply with federal English Language Proficiency standards.
