California to revoke 17,000 immigrant trucking licenses after federal pressure

Sacramento, California – California officials said Wednesday that the state will revoke 17,000 commercial driver’s licenses issued to immigrants after discovering that many of them were set to expire after the drivers’ legal permission to be in the United States had ended.

The announcement follows weeks of pressure from the Trump administration, which has accused California and other states of being too lenient in granting professional licenses to noncitizens. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy framed the move as a major victory for his department’s ongoing review of state licensing programs.

“After weeks of claiming they did nothing wrong, Gavin Newsom and California have been caught red-handed,” Duffy said in a statement. “Now that we’ve exposed their lies, 17,000 illegally issued trucking licenses are being revoked.”

The state’s Department of Motor Vehicles said it had conducted an internal review of its commercial licensing process after Duffy raised concerns earlier this fall. Officials said the licenses were being revoked not because the drivers lacked work authorization at the time, but because the licenses’ expiration dates extended past the period those federal authorizations were valid.

“California law requires that a commercial license expire on or before the date an individual’s legal presence in the U.S. ends,” the **governor’s office** said in a statement. “Every one of these drivers had valid work authorization at the time their license was issued.”

Still, the state’s compliance came with a political edge. Newsom’s spokesperson Brandon Richards accused Duffy of twisting the facts to score political points. “Once again, 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 said.

The issue gained national attention in August, when a truck driver not authorized to be in the U.S. caused a deadly crash in Florida. Similar incidents in Texas, Alabama, and California have fueled criticism of state-level licensing programs.

In response, Duffy has threatened to cut off federal transportation funding to states he claims are not enforcing federal work authorization and language requirements for commercial drivers. Earlier this year, he revoked $40 million in federal funds from California and said Wednesday he may withhold another $160 million if the state fails to fully comply.

The administration’s new rules, announced in September, sharply limit which immigrants can obtain commercial driver’s licenses. Under those rules, only three classes of visa holders — H-2A agricultural workers, H-2B seasonal laborers, and E-2 investors — are eligible. States must verify each applicant’s status in a federal database, and licenses can last no longer than a year or until a visa expires.

Those requirements weren’t in place when California issued the 17,000 licenses now being revoked. For many drivers, the decision could mean the loss of their livelihoods within 60 days.

The Newsom administration maintains that California acted in accordance with federal guidance from the Department of Homeland Security when issuing the licenses. But as Duffy and the Trump administration press ahead with audits in other states, California’s reversal may soon become a model for how those states respond.

The broader debate — about who gets to work, who gets to drive, and who gets to decide — is far from over. And for thousands of immigrant truckers who keep the state’s economy moving, the fallout has only just begun.