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The Trump administration is withholding roughly $160 million in federal transportation funding from California starting in fiscal 12 months 2027 after the state did not revoke greater than 17,000 industrial drivers’ licenses (CDLs), which federal regulators say have been unlawfully issued, by a federally agreed-upon deadline, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy introduced Tuesday.
The funding penalty follows a “closing dedication” issued by the Federal Motor Provider Security Administration (FMCSA) after California missed a Jan. 5, 2026, deadline to cancel the licenses. Federal officers say this allowed overseas drivers whose licenses didn’t adjust to federal lawful-presence necessities to proceed working heavy industrial automobiles on U.S. roads.
“It’s reckoning day for [Gov.] Gavin Newsom and California. Our calls for have been easy: comply with the foundations, revoke the unlawfully-issued licenses to harmful overseas drivers, and repair the system so this by no means occurs once more,” Duffy mentioned in an announcement.
“Gavin Newsom has failed to take action, placing the wants of unlawful immigrants over the security of the American individuals.”
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION WITHHOLDS $40M FROM CALIFORNIA OVER TRUCKER ENGLISH PROFICIENCY RULES
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has taken motion towards California after it did not act on unlawfully issued CDLs. (AP Picture/J. Scott Applewhite)
Duffy added the administration is pulling the funding “to make sure federal tax {dollars} don’t fund this charade.”
In keeping with the FMCSA, the company’s audit uncovered what it described as a “systemic collapse” of California’s non-domiciled CDL program. Federal officers mentioned the state illegally issued licenses with expiration dates extending years past a driver’s lawful presence and granted CDLs to people who have been ineligible to carry them beneath federal security rules.
General, greater than 20,000 energetic non-domiciled — individuals whose everlasting house is positioned outdoors the U.S. — CDLs have been issued by California in violation of federal guidelines, in response to the audit.
TRUMP THREATENS TO CUT $75M FROM PENNSYLVANIA OVER ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CDL SCANDAL
A truck departs from a Port of Oakland delivery terminal in Oakland, Calif. (Noah Berger, File/AP Picture)
“Federal rules are clear: states should right security deficiencies on a schedule mutually agreed upon by the Company, and California failed to fulfill its dedication to rescind these unlawfully-issued licenses by January 5,” FMCSA Administrator Derek D. Barrs mentioned. “We won’t settle for a corrective plan that knowingly leaves hundreds of drivers holding noncompliant licenses behind the wheel of 80,000-pound vans in open defiance of federal security rules.”
Federal officers mentioned a nationwide audit performed in September discovered that greater than 25% of California’s non-domiciled CDLs have been unlawfully issued, together with licenses prolonged as many as 4 years past the expiration of lawful presence documentation.
Folks stroll via the rain on the Arleta DMV in Arleta, Calif. (Hans Gutknecht/MediaNews Group/The Los Angeles Day by day Information through Getty Pictures)
The audit cited one case during which California issued a CDL to a driver from Brazil with endorsements to function a passenger bus and a college bus, though the license remained legitimate for months after the driving force’s authorized presence expired.
In November, California agreed to revoke each illegally issued license inside 60 days and to work with federal officers so the company might confirm that the failures permitting the licenses to be issued had been corrected, in response to the discharge.
Federal officers mentioned the state failed to fulfill that dedication and tried to increase the revocation deadline with out federal approval.
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Newsom’s workplace, the California Division of Motor Autos and the California State Transportation Company didn’t instantly reply to Fox Information Digital’s request for remark.
Fox Information Digital’s Michael Ruiz contributed to this reporting.
