California delays yanking 17,000 commercial driver's licenses despite feds' threat
Source: CBS News/AP
December 31, 2025 / 6:15 AM EST
A week after immigrant groups filed a lawsuit, California said Tuesday it will delay the revocations of 17,000 commercial driver's licenses until March to allow more time to ensure that truckers and bus drivers who legally qualify for the licenses can keep them. But U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the state may lose $160 million if it doesn't meet a Jan. 5 deadline to revoke the licenses. He already withheld $40 million in federal funding because, he said, California isn't enforcing English proficiency requirements for truckers.
California only sent out notices to invalidate the licenses after Duffy pressured the state to make sure immigrants who are in the country illegally aren't granted the licenses. An audit found problems like licenses that remained valid long after an immigrant's authorization to be in the country expired or licenses where the state couldn't prove it checked a driver's immigration status.
"California does NOT have an 'extension' to keep breaking the law and putting Americans at risk on the roads," Duffy posted on the social platform X. The Transportation Department has been prioritizing the issue ever since a truck driver who was not authorized to be in the U.S. made an illegal U-turn and caused a crash in Florida that killed three people in August.
California officials said they're working to make sure the federal Transportation Department is satisfied with the reforms they've put in place. The state had planned to resume issuing commercial driver's licenses in mid-December, but the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration blocked that.
Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/california-17000-commercial-drivers-licenses-delay-revoking-feds-threat-immigrants/
REFERENCES
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143554318
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143581736