California revokes 17,000 commercial driver's licenses issued to immigrants
California plans to revoke 17,000 commercial driver's licenses issued to immigrants after they were found to have expired beyond their authorization to remain in the United States, reports Associated Press.
State officials announced their plans to revoke driver's licenses on November 12. The decision came after the Trump administration harshly criticized California and other states for issuing licenses to people in the country illegally.
The issue came to the public attention in August when a truck driver without permission to be in the United States made an illegal U-turn and caused a crash in Florida that killed three people.
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Department of Transportation Commissioner Sean Duffy said on November 12 that California's decision to revoke these licenses was an admission of wrongdoing, despite previously defending its licensing rules. California launched a review of commercial driver's licenses after Duffy raised concerns.
"After weeks of claiming they did the right thing, Gavin Newsom and California have been caught red-handed. Now that we've exposed their lies, 17,000 illegally issued truck licenses will be revoked," Duffy said, referring to the state's governor. "This is just the tip of the iceberg. My team will push California to prove it has removed every illegal immigrant from behind the wheel of trucks and school buses."
Newsom's office stated that all drivers whose licenses would be revoked had valid work permits issued by the federal government. The office initially declined to disclose the exact reason for the license revocations, stating only that they violated state law. It later clarified that the reason was a requirement that a driver's license expire no later than the person's legal stay in the United States, as listed in the DMV database.
However, Newsom spokesman Brandon Richards fired back at Duffy.
"Once again, Sean 'Road Rules' Duffy is not telling the truth, but rather spreading easily debunked lies in a pathetic and desperate attempt to please his dear leader," Richards said.
Fatal truck accidents in Texas and Alabama earlier this year also heightened concerns about migrant drivers. Last month, another accident involving an illegal driver in California resulted in three fatalities.
Duffy previously imposed new restrictions on which immigrants could obtain commercial driver's licenses. He stated this fall that California and five other states had improperly issued such licenses to non-citizens, but that only California had been targeted because it completed its audit first. Other states are still in the process of completing their audits due to the government shutdown, but the Department of Transportation is requiring all states to tighten standards.
Duffy withheld $40 million in federal funding from California because, he claimed, the state was failing to comply with English-language proficiency requirements for truck drivers. He reiterated on November 12 that he would withhold another $160 million unless California revoked all illegally issued licenses and addressed all deficiencies. The revocation of these licenses is part of the state's compliance efforts.
New commercial driver's license rules announced by Duffy in September make it extremely difficult for immigrants to obtain them, as only those with three visa categories will be eligible. States will also be required to verify applicants' immigration status through a federal database. Licenses will be valid for up to one year, unless the visa expires earlier.
Under the new rules, only 10,000 of the 200,000 non-citizen drivers with such permits will be eligible to receive them—only drivers with H-2A, H-2B, or E-2 visas. H-2A is for temporary agricultural workers, H-2B is for temporary non-agricultural workers, and E-2 is for individuals making a significant investment in a U.S. business. However, the rules will not be applied retroactively, so the remaining 190,000 drivers will be able to keep their permits at least until they renew.
These new requirements weren't in effect during the period when 17,000 California licenses were issued. However, these drivers received notices that their licenses would expire in 60 days.
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Duffy said in September that an audit found that a quarter of the 145 California IDs reviewed should not have been issued. He cited examples of four IDs that remained valid after their work permits expired—sometimes for years.
Newsom's office said the state followed guidance from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security regarding issuing such cards to non-citizens.
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