Notwithstanding the appeals court’s administrative stay of the FMCSA’s non-domiciled CDL rule, on November 12 U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced that California would revoke 17,000 CDLs of drivers who remained in the country beyond the dates allowed by their immigration status.

USDOT and California Governor Gavin Newsom’s office exchanged angry press releases, with each blaming the other for violating the law. Secretary Duffy said, “After weeks of claiming they did nothing wrong, Gavin Newsom and California have been caught red-handed. Now that we’ve exposed their lies, 17,000 illegally issued trucking licenses are being revoked. This is just the tip of the iceberg. My team will continue to force California to prove they have removed every illegal immigrant from behind the wheel of semitrucks and school buses.”  

According to DOT, notices have been issued to the 17,000 non-domiciled CDL holders that their license no longer meets federal requirements and will expire in 60 days. FMCSA requires California to provide its full audit of all its non-domiciled CDLs so the agency can verify that every illegally issued license has been revoked and that the failures that allowed these licenses to be issued are corrected.  

Governor Newsom’s office asserted the state issued the licenses in accordance with the Department of Homeland Security’s then current rules, and that Secretary Duffy was merely grandstanding to please President Trump. But the state has agreed to issue the revocations.

Upwards of 200,000 CDLs nationwide might be subject to revocation over the next two years under the new rule, which limits the immigration programs that make foreign drivers eligible for CDLs.