CA pulling 17k driver’s licenses amid scrutiny over ‘dangerous foreign drivers’
California will revoke 17,000 commercial driver’s licenses issued to immigrants after finding the licenses’ expiration dates extended beyond the drivers’ legal stay in the U.S., state officials said.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy pounced on the announcement saying California and Gov. Gavin Newsom were “caught red-handed” claiming the state had illegally issued the thousands of trucking licenses to “dangerous foreign drivers.” Duffy credited an ongoing audit by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration as reason for the state’s decision.
Duffy vowed to “force California to prove they have removed every illegal immigrant from behind the wheel of semitrucks and school buses.”
Newsom’s office rejected Duffy’s remarks in a statement that countered the transportation secretary’s assertions as “lies.”
“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,’” the statement read. “He did, however, finally acknowledge that federal government issued these drivers work permits.”
“These drivers are not ‘illegal immigrants’; all had legal presence and had been granted work authorization by the federal government as confirmed by the federal government,” the Governor’s Office, continued, adding that new federal requirements were not in effect at the time the licenses were issued.
The Governor’s Office went on to say that the licenses were withdrawn due to “inconsistency with California law.” State law requires a driver’s license expire on or before the date the holder is allowed to stay in the country.
Duffy announced in October he was withholding more than $40 million in federal funds meant for California after determining the state had not followed English Language Proficiency standards established for commercial drivers.
Duffy on Wednesday threatened to pull another $160 million in federal funding unless California revoked all non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses. The licenses are issued to those who are legally in the U.S. but are not permanent residents or citizens, including those who carry certain work visas and approved refugees and asylum seekers.
California stopped issuing and renewing the non-domiciled licenses as of Sept. 29 to comply with new U.S. Department of Transportation rules.
Two high-profile cases involving immigrant truck drivers from Northern California have thrust the issue into the spotlight.
They include one in Florida involving a Stockton tractor-trailer driver Harjinder Singh, 28. Harjinder Singh was extradited to Florida to face vehicular homicide charges in the August deaths of a 37-year-old woman and two men, ages 54 and 30. Their minivan was crushed beneath Singh’s big rig after he made an illegal U-turn on a Florida turnpike. Singh faces 45 years to life in a Florida prison if convicted.
Yuba City big rig driver Jashanpreet Singh, 21, remains held in San Bernardino County in connection with a deadly October collision on Interstate 10 in Ontario that killed three people and injured at least four others. Federal officials said Singh had entered the U.S. illegally from Mexico in 2022.
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