WASHINGTON — A lawsuit is being filed over the Federal Motor Carrier Association’s (FMCSA) interim final rule “Restoring Integrity to the Issuance of Non-Domiciled Commercial Drivers Licenses.”
Filed by petitioners Jorge Rivera Lujan, Aleksei Semenovskii, the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO (AFSCME) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the suit is asking for a petition of review on the rule.
Certificates of service regarding the suit were sent to Greg Zerzan, general counsel for the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), Jesse Elison, office of the chief counsel for FMCSA and Pam Bondi, U.S. Attorney General on Oct. 20.
In September, USDOT Secretary Sean Duffy announced emergency actions to drastically restrict who is eligible for a non-domiciled commercial learner’s permits (CLPs) and commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs).
According to the Public Citizen Litigation Group, Duffy’s actions bar asylum seekers, refugees and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients who have work authorization from holding CDLs based on their immigration status.
“These licenses are necessary for truck drivers, bus drivers and delivery drivers, among others,” the group said.
Small Business in Transportation Coalition (SBTC)
The SBTC is calling the suit a “war on highway safety.”
“I am recommending to the SBTC Board that we file an AMICUS brief in support of the department,” said James Lamb, executive director, SBTC. “This must not stand. We will get behind you, [Sec. Duffy], and fight this blatant attack on highway safety and the rights of American truckers and citizens to equal protection of the law.”
American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO (AFSCME)
“The AFL-CIO (AFSCME) is a national labor organization and unincorporated membership association,” the suit said. “It is the largest trade union of public employees in the United States, with around 1.4 million members organized into approximately 3,400 local unions, 58 councils and other affiliates, including retiree councils and chapters, in 46 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. AFSCME, through its affiliates and constituent local unions, represents the interests of its members, including members with non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses. AFSCME is a nonprofit organization, has no parent corporation, and no publicly traded corporation has an ownership interest in it of any kind.”
American Federation of Teachers (AFT)
Petitioner American Federation of Teachers (AFT) is a membership organization representing 1.8 million pre-K through 12th-grade teachers, early childhood educators, paraprofessionals, and other school-related personnel; higher education faculty and professional staff; federal, state, and local government employees; and nurses and other healthcare professionals. AFT represents the interests of its members, including members with non-domiciled driver’s licenses. AFT is a non-profit, non-stock corporation. It has no parent corporation, and no publicly traded corporation has an ownership interest in it of any kind, according to court documents.
Emergency Action on Non-Domiciled CDLs
When Duffy announced the new regulations, he backed his reasoning due to a FMCSA audit.
“What our team has discovered should disturb and anger every American,” Duffy said. “Licenses to operate a massive, 80,000-pound truck are being issued to dangerous foreign drivers – often times illegally. This is a direct threat to the safety of every family on the road, and I won’t stand for it. Today’s actions will prevent unsafe foreign drivers from renewing their license and hold states accountable to immediately invalidate improperly issued licenses.”
The rule, which was put in place immediately comes in response to an ongoing nationwide audit by FMCSA and a recent series of horrific, fatal crashes caused by non-domiciled drivers.
Audit Results
“The audit has uncovered both a catastrophic pattern of states issuing licenses illegally to foreign drivers, as well as the fact that even if the current regulatory framework is followed, it can fail,” USDOT said. “The confluence of these two factors have created an imminent hazard on America’s roadways that must be fixed.”
Moving forward, non-citizens will not be eligible for a non-domiciled CDL unless they meet a much stricter set of rules, including an employment-based visa and undergoing a mandatory federal immigration status check using the SAVE system.
A one-pager on the emergency actions can be found here.
According to an USDOT press release, FMCSA’s nationwide audit non-domiciled CDLs uncovered systemic non-compliance across several states, the worst and most egregious in California. Due to weak oversight, insufficient training and programming errors, the agency found a large number of non-domiciled CDLs were issued to:
- Drivers who were ineligible.
- Drivers whose licenses were valid long after their lawful presence in the U.S. expired.
Dana Guthrie is an award-winning journalist who has been featured in multiple newspapers, books and magazines across the globe. She is currently based in the Atlanta, Georgia, area.
I’m rooting for the FMCA. stop handing our birthright over to foreigners.
Seeing videos of horrific crashes, like the most recent that killed three people due to the driver, an illegal that could barely speak English, being high on drugs, it is preposterous that some will fight for these people to continue driving on our roads. What is with them supporting these truckers?
I’m with you it’s insane while they should be the ones paying,and were sitting back collecting
I completely understand the outrage and this accidents are not helping, because there are many non domicile truck drivers that have had their licenses for over 20 years and are really good drivers and have their own companies it wasn’t hand it to them they study the rules and paid driving lessons to obtain it took the road test and passed.
This administration found people that yes bought
their permits and licenses but not only immigrants do it, audit it’s showing US citizens too but they don’t show that in the news. Do a real audit not based on racism and yes take out the drivers that obtained their licenses illegally but don’t come for everyone that has spent time and money doing things right. People don’t realize it’s also the workers at the DMV and companies because what company in the right mind hires a person with a license that supposedly says “no name given” let’s be real it’s a deeper problem not just about immigrants it’s the whole system.
I support taking out the drivers that pose a risk because they didn’t properly train and bought their license. It is frustrating trying to explain to people because all of these new drivers came to ruin the lives of thousands of drivers that obtained their licenses fair and square went through the same tests as the rest. It all hits when you realize its about race not about doing a real audit and removing the unfit drivers. What I’m typing probably won’t matter especially from what i’ve seen in the comments.
Don’t judge everyone not everyone is the same
Funny how the lawsuit is brought by unions that have nothing to do with trucking. Sad part, American citizens are brainwashed enough to fight for people who are illegally entering this country and obtaining CDLs which are [supposed to be] a “privilege” to those who trained and earned it! We best wake up or be will just like the U.K.
Today I spoke with someone in regards to a driver position, OTR 48 States with leasing not to purchase. 900 plus to lease. This guy said a term I did not comprehend, I said I’ve never heard that before I’m not understanding. He said we can add time to my clock. What lead me to that, was the amount of mileage during this season of winter they expected a driver to drive. It is us as thru driver’s, meaning changing gears not gears changing for us. To know what we can and can not do with the season to come. Regardless of all that, working to fix folks clocks is a major problem. especially for rookies pushing freight rates down taking anything. It’s time to get the freight rates back, driver’s are being taken off the road left and right.
Be safe, keep it on the road in your lane!
there good drivers but non citizens they own there trucking business over 20 yrs .they have been following the rules and regulations .at this point they are going down please try to think about them .