California has postponed the cancellation of roughly 17,000 commercial truck driver’s licenses that were issued to illegal immigrants.
The California Department of Motor Vehicles announced this week that it will delay revoking the licenses, which were set to be canceled on Jan. 5, pushing the action back by 60 days. The decision is expected to draw criticism from the Trump administration.
“Commercial drivers are an important part of our economy — our supply chains don’t move, and our communities don’t stay connected without them,” California DMV Director Steve Gordon said in a statement. “We are hopeful that our collaboration with the federal government will give [the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration] confidence in our updated processes to allow California to promptly resume issuance of nondomiciled commercial driver’s licenses.”
Illegal immigrants who previously received commercial driver’s licenses will now have two additional months to reapply and retake the required exams.
In May, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy issued new guidance enforcing English language proficiency requirements for truck drivers as part of a broader federal effort to ensure drivers can read and understand road signs.
The Department of Transportation said a prior investigation by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration found “significant failures” by California, New Mexico, and Washington to place drivers “out of service” for violations related to English language proficiency.
The Trump administration warned it would withhold millions of dollars in federal funding from Democratic-led states, including California, New Mexico, and Washington, unless they adopted and enforced the language requirements for commercial drivers.
The California Highway Patrol has publicly stated that it does not plan to comply with the federal regulation.
Several fatal traffic incidents involving illegal immigrants who were issued commercial driver’s licenses have been reported nationwide.
In August, Florida police identified Harjinder Singh, an illegal immigrant, as the driver of an 18-wheeler involved in a deadly crash in St. Lucie County that killed three people. Authorities said Singh ignored a road sign prohibiting U-turns and attempted to make an illegal turn.
In recent months, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has taken action against commercial truck drivers operating without legal status.
In November, the Department of Transportation announced that California would be required to revoke thousands of commercial driver’s licenses that were deemed to have been illegally issued.
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