Sunday, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that the federal government will revoke $160 million in highway funds from California, citing the state’s failure to comply with federal commercial driver’s license rules for non-citizens.
Duffy said California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration has continued issuing CDLs to foreign nationals in violation of new Department of Transportation regulations enacted in late September. “I’m about to pull $160 million from California,” Duffy said in an appearance on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “And as we pull more money, we also have the option of pulling California’s ability to issue commercial driver’s licenses.”
The Department of Transportation implemented emergency CDL restrictions on September 29 after three fatal crashes linked to immigrant truck drivers. The updated policy limits CDL eligibility to three visa categories and requires states to verify immigration status through a federal database. Licenses are valid for no more than one year or until a visa expires.
Duffy said California has issued “tens of thousands” of licenses that do not comply with federal requirements. “You have 60,000 people on the roads who shouldn’t have licenses,” he said. “They’re driving fuel tankers, they’re driving school buses, and we’ve seen some of the crashes on American roadways that come from these people who shouldn’t have these licenses.”
The secretary cited a federal audit launched after a crash in Florida in which a driver in the United States illegally made a U-turn, killing three people. That investigation found improper CDL issuances in California, Colorado, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, and Washington. Duffy said California had “unlawfully issued” as many as 25% of the 145 licenses reviewed by investigators, including four that remained valid long after work permits expired.
California’s Department of Motor Vehicles pushed back, saying the state is following the law. “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,” said Eva Spiegel, a DMV spokesperson. “California is in compliance with these regulations and will remain in compliance with federal law.”
The Newsom administration previously dismissed Duffy’s warnings as political, noting that California CDL holders have a lower crash rate than the national average and that of Texas, the only state with more commercial drivers.
Duffy said that those defenses “ignore federal law” and announced the department’s next step in enforcement. The state had 30 days to comply before losing funding under an executive order signed by President Donald Trump earlier this year requiring states to verify immigration status before issuing CDLs.
In a separate finding earlier this month, the Department of Transportation withheld $40 million from California for failing to enforce English-language proficiency standards for truck drivers. Federal officials said the state’s response “did not satisfy compliance requirements.”
“California had issued a commercial driver’s license to the Florida suspect despite longstanding English-language rules,” Duffy said. “Those rules predate the crash — and California failed to enforce them.”
