California plans to revoke 17,000 commercial driver’s licenses issued to immigrants after discovering expiration dates extended beyond when the drivers were legally authorised to remain in the United States, state officials announced Wednesday.
The announcement follows harsh criticism from the Trump administration regarding California and other states granting licenses to people in the country illegally. The issue gained public attention in August when a tractor-trailer driver not authorised to be in the US made an illegal U-turn and caused a crash in Florida that killed three people.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy stated Wednesday that California’s action to revoke these licenses represents an admission that the state acted improperly even though it previously defended its licensing standards. California launched its review of commercial driver’s licenses it issued after Duffy raised concerns.
“After weeks of claiming they did nothing wrong, Gavin Newsom and California have been caught red-handed. Now that we’ve exposed their lies, 17,000 illegally issued trucking licenses are being revoked,” Duffy said, referring to the state’s governor. “This is just the tip of iceberg. My team will continue to force California to prove they have removed every illegal immigrant from behind the wheel of semitrucks and school buses.”
Newsom’s office stated that every driver whose license is being revoked had valid work authorisations from the federal government. Initially, his office declined to disclose the exact reason for revoking the licenses, stating only they violated state law. Later, his office revealed the state law in question was one requiring licenses expire on or before a person’s legal status to be in the United States ends, as reported to the DMV.
Still, Newsom’s spokesperson Brandon Richards responded sharply to Duffy.
“Once again, the Sean ‘Road Rules’ Duffy fails to share the truth, spreading easily disproven falsehoods in a sad and desperate attempt to please his dear leader,” Richards stated.
Fatal truck crashes in Texas and Alabama earlier this year also highlighted questions about these licenses. A fiery California crash that killed three people last month involved a truck driver in the country illegally, adding to the concerns.
Duffy previously imposed new restrictions on which immigrants can qualify for commercial driver’s licenses. He stated earlier this autumn that California and five other states had improperly issued commercial driver’s licenses to noncitizens, but California is the only state Duffy has taken action against because it was the first one where an audit was completed. The reviews in other states have been delayed by the government shutdown, but the Transportation Department is urging all of them to tighten their standards.
Duffy revoked $40 million in federal funding because he stated California is not enforcing English language requirements for truckers, and he reiterated Wednesday that he will take another $160 million from the state over these improperly issued licenses if they do not invalidate every illegal license and address all concerns. However, revoking these licenses is part of the state’s effort to comply.
The new rules for commercial driver’s licenses that Duffy announced in September make obtaining them extremely difficult for immigrants because only three specific classes of visa holders will be eligible. States will also have to verify an applicant’s immigration status in a federal database. The licenses will be valid for up to one year unless the applicant’s visa expires sooner.
Under the new rules, only 10,000 of the 200,000 noncitizens who have commercial licenses would qualify for them, which would only be available to drivers who have an H-2a, H-2b or E-2 visa. H-2a is for temporary agricultural workers whilst H-2b is for temporary nonagricultural workers, and E-2 is for people who make substantial investments in a US business. However, the rules will not be enforced retroactively, so those 190,000 drivers will be allowed to keep their commercial licenses at least until they come up for renewal.
Those new requirements were not in place when the 17,000 California licenses were issued. However, those drivers were given notices that their licenses will expire in 60 days.
Duffy stated in September that investigators found one quarter of the 145 licenses they reviewed in California should not have been issued. He cited four California licenses that remained valid after the driver’s work permit expired, sometimes years after.
Newsom’s office indicated the state followed guidance it received from the US Department of Homeland Security about issuing these licenses to noncitizens.
