U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned Sunday that he is about make good on a threat to revoke millions in federal funds for California because he says the state is illegally issuing commercial driver’s licenses to noncitizens.
In an appearance on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures,” Duffy said Gov. Gavin Newsom has refused to comply with Department of Transportation rules that require the state to stop issuing such licenses and review those already issued.
“So, one, I’m about to pull $160 million from California,” Duffy said. “And, as we pull more money, we also have the option of pulling California’s ability to issue commercial driver’s licenses.”
Eva Spiegel, a spokesperson for the California Department of Motor Vehicles, said the Trump administration “has no legitimate basis” to withhold federal highway transportation funds.
“The federal government previously allowed commercial driver’s licenses for asylum seekers and refugees and on September 26 announced emergency regulations to cease this practice that went into effect on September 29. California is in compliance with these regulations and will remain in compliance with federal law,” Spiegel said via email.
When Duffy threatened to revoke funds last month, a spokesperson for Newsom dismissed the attack and noted that CDL holders from California have a significantly lower rate of crashes than both the national average and that of Texas, which is the only state with more licensed commercial drivers.
Last month the Transportation Department tightened commercial driver’s license requirements for noncitizens after three fatal crashes that officials said were caused by immigrant truck drivers. Only three specific classes of visa holders will be eligible for CDLs under the new rules and states must 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.
Duffy said last month that California should never have issued 25% of 145 licenses investigators reviewed. He cited four California licenses that remained valid after the driver’s work permit expired — sometimes years after. The state had 30 days to come up with a plan to comply or lose funding.
A nationwide commercial driver’s license audit began after officials say a driver in the country illegally made a U-turn and caused a crash in Florida that killed three people. It found licenses that were issued improperly in California, Colorado, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas and Washington.
Duffy said Sunday that California has unlawfully issued tens of thousands of these licenses to noncitizens.
“So you have 60,000 people on the roads who shouldn’t have licenses,” Duffy said. “They’re driving fuel tankers, they’re driving school buses, and we have seen some of the crashes on American roadways that come from these people who shouldn’t have these licenses.”
Duffy said earlier this month that he would withhold $40 million from California because it is the only state that is failing to enforce English language requirements for truckers. California defended its practices in a formal response to the Transportation Department, but federal officials were not satisfied.
The investigation launched after the Florida crash found what Duffy called significant failures in the way California is enforcing rules that took effect in June after one of President Donald Trump’s executive orders. California had issued the driver a commercial license, but these English rules predate the crash.
The Associated Press is an independent global news organization dedicated to factual reporting. Founded in 1846, AP today remains the most trusted source of fast, accurate, unbiased news in all formats and the essential provider of the technology and services vital to the news business. The Trucker Media Group is subscriber of The Associated Press has been granted the license to use this content on TheTrucker.com and The Trucker newspaper in accordance with its Content License Agreement with The Associated Press.
The writer of this article OBVIOUSLY HAS NEVER READ THE GREEN VERSION OR THE PURPLE VERSION OF THE FEDERAL MOTOR CARRIER SAFETY ADMISSION CODE BOOK that EVERY American truck driver receives during orientation at their new job. This book is carried in each of our trucks. I’ve been driving cmv for now 27 years and it HAS ALWAYS STATED in the fmcsa code that a driver MUST SPEAK FLUENTLY AND READ ENGLISH!!!!! Do your freaking homework before you print false information
racist White men are at it again penalizing humanity for being different, speaking different and looking different from their miserable recessive gene pool possee selves in an effort to perpetuate this two sides divisive nonsense. Money is their God and greed is their Christ full stop !!! Good thing man is on his way out.
How do you come to the conclusion that it is White men? I am NOT Caucasian, so lets get the “WHITE” part out of the way. I have seen people from ALL nationalities that are cruel to those who weren’t born in America. I have heard people with heritage in Mexico state that they called immigration on their neighbors even family, members, many cultures have contributed, stating that they should have come to the United States the correct way. Yet every day I see Hispanics being nasty to white people, it isn’t a white versus Mexican thing. I live in an area that is predominantly Mexicans and Hispanics. They say that white people are coming here and taking their jobs, they held rallies on public roads against white people, even passed out shirts saying “Relax gringo/gringa I’m legal’. Do they not know that all cultures are a part of the “do it the legal way” opinion?
Laws are made for every culture to obey in the United States. Some laws provide safety for all of us that drive on the public roads not to single out any race or take away anyone’s “American Dream’. We all agree with some laws and have other laws we don’t agree with. This happens in ALL countries and anyone living in those countries must comply not just the people who weren’t born in that country, ALL people must comply. A WHITE man was decommissioned during a DOT inspection because he couldn’t read, so how is this law only against immigrants? My grandfather was killed sitting in his truck, he was a legal immigrant working as an engineer for the stat enjoying his lunch with a coworker when a driver of an 18 wheeler who didn’t understand the construction signs, blew through the barricade, hit the back of the truck, and decapitated my grandfather and smashed his coworker beyond recognition. I can only imagine the pain the families endured. We all had to learn English and I personally do not think anyone (American’s included not just whites) should have to speak and read English in order to operate ANY vehicle on the highway, motorcycles included. My grandfather and his coworker would still be alive and so would so many other people. I know you’ll have some re-butte and you are entitled to it. People have been killed in other ways as well, keeping people safe on the road is a blessing to a lot of people.