California will cancel 17,000 industrial driver’s licenses that had been issued to immigrants after officers mentioned they prolonged past the date the drivers had been allowed to work within the nation — a violation of state legislation.
California requires driver’s licenses and work permits to have the identical expiration dates, officers mentioned. Notices had been despatched out on Nov. 6 to affected drivers warning their licenses would expire in 60 days.
The transfer comes amid an ongoing conflict between the Trump administration and Gov. Gavin Newsom over California’s non-domiciled industrial driver’s licensing program. It additionally follows a nationwide audit of such applications after officers mentioned a truck driver dwelling within the U.S. illegally made a U-turn and prompted a crash in Florida that killed three folks.
“That is simply the tip of the iceberg. My workforce will proceed to power California to show they’ve eliminated each unlawful immigrant from behind the wheel of semi-trucks and college buses,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy mentioned in a written assertion.
State officers, nonetheless, mentioned the drivers weren’t “unlawful immigrants” and that they had been approved to work within the nation by the federal authorities.
“As soon as once more, Sean ‘Highway Guidelines’ Duffy fails to share the reality — spreading simply disproven falsehoods in a tragic and determined try and please his pricey chief,” mentioned Brandon Richards, a Newsom spokesman.
California is one among 19 states, along with Washington, D.C., that points driving licenses to immigrants with out authorized standing. Doing so permits folks to work and journey safely, immigrant rights advocates argue.
However California — together with six different states, together with Texas — got here beneath scrutiny after an audit carried out by the Division of Transportation’s Motor Service Security Administration, the company accountable for stopping industrial motor vehicle-related deaths and accidents.
That audit discovered irregularities within the issuance of non-domiciled industrial driver’s licenses.
Duffy mentioned the audit discovered 25% of the licenses issued in California violated federal guidelines, together with by extending nicely past a person’s work allow finish date.
In October, following the audit, Duffy withheld greater than $40 million in transportation grants and claimed California was not solely persevering with to situation industrial driver’s licenses to immigrants dwelling within the nation illegally, however was additionally not implementing new English language necessities for truckers.
Officers have refuted Duffy’s claims and mentioned the state has complied with federal legal guidelines and laws. California’s Division of Motor Autos mentioned on its web site that it was not issuing or renewing non-domiciled industrial driver’s licenses as of Sept. 29.
Proposed new federal guidelines that would come with obligatory federal immigration standing checks, limiting the period of the license and limiting eligibility to sure immigration visas, had been quickly placed on maintain by a federal appeals court docket this week.
The ruling offered aid for hundreds of immigrants who had been prone to shedding their licenses.
