The Transportation Department will immediately tighten up the requirements for noncitizens to get commercial drivers' licenses after three fatal crashes this year that officials say were caused by immigrant truck drivers who never should have received licenses.
The new rules will make it extremely hard for immigrants to get commercial drivers' licenses because only three specific classes of visa holders will be eligible. States will also have to verify an applicant's immigration status in a federal database. These licenses will only be valid for up to one year unless the applicant's visa expires sooner than that.
The nationwide audit of these licenses began after a fatal U-turn crash in Florida that killed two people caused by a truck driver who officials said was in the country illegally. But Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said fatal crashes caused by truck drivers who shouldn’t have had licenses were also found in Texas and Alabama earlier this year.
Duffy threatens to revoke millions in federal funding
Duffy also threatened to revoke $160 million in federal funding for California because investigators found that one in four of the 145 commercial drivers licenses for noncitizens issued since June that they reviewed should have never been issued under the current rules.
He cited four examples where California issued licenses that remain valid after the driver's work permit expires — sometimes years after. That state has 30 days to audit its program and come up with a plan to comply or it will lose funding.
Duffy said the current rules aren’t strict enough and a number of states aren’t following them. The audit found licenses that were issued improperly in California, Colorado, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, and Washington.
“We have a government system designed to keep American families on the road safe. But that system has been compromised,” Duffy said.
Previously, Duffy threatened to pull some federal funding from California, Washington and New Mexico for failing to enforce English proficiency requirements for truckers that went into effect this summer. The Transportation Department is still reviewing the responses from those states.
California points to its safety record
California has defended its practices in response to that earlier threat and a spokesperson for Gov. Gavin Newsom dismissed Duffy's latest attack.
“Former D-list reality star, now Secretary of Transportation, still doesn’t understand federal law. We’ll respond to today’s letter in due course," spokeswoman Diana Crofts-Pelayo said. "In the meantime, unlike this clown, we’ll stick to the facts: California commercial driver’s license holders had a fatal crash rate nearly 40% lower than the national average. Texas — the only state with more commercial holders — has a rate almost 50% higher than California. Facts don’t lie. The Trump administration does.”
All states must pause issuing commercial drivers' licenses to noncitizens until they can comply with the new rules.
New rules restrict which noncitizens are eligible for commercial license
Under the new rules, only 10,000 of the 200,000 noncitizens who currently have commercial licenses would qualify under the new rules that are only available to drivers who have either an H-2a, H-2b or E-2 visa. But the rules won’t be enforced retroactively so those 190,000 drivers will be allowed to keep their commercial licenses at least until they come up for renewal.
Duffy said that even with the reports of a shortage of truck drivers, he doesn’t think the new rules will cause a problem because these licenses represent only about 5% of all commercial drivers licenses.
Trade groups push for qualified and authorized drivers
Two major trucking trade groups praised the Transportation Department's efforts to make sure that everyone who receives a commercial driver's license is qualified and authorized to get one. The American Trucking Association and the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association had both been pushing for an audit of commercial licenses at least since spring.
“Rules only work when they are consistently enforced, and it’s imperative that all state driver licensing agencies comply with federal regulations," ATA President and CEO Chris Spear said.
Todd Spencer, who leads the independent drivers group, said, “For too long, loopholes in this program have allowed unqualified drivers onto America’s highways, creating unnecessary safety risks for professional drivers and the motoring public alike. These enforcement actions will also remove bad actors from the road and restore accountability to the system.”
The Florida crash drew outrage from President Donald Trump and Duffy and inspired a political fight between the governors of Florida and California. It also put Sikh truck drivers in the crossfire because the truck driver in the Florida crash is a member of that faith.
The Texas crash Duffy cited happened in March when a truck driver failed to brake and crashed into a line of cars, causing a 17-car pileup that killed five people. He said the driver, who was not a U.S. citizen, had a history of unsafe lane changes, ignoring traffic signs and multiple violations of service rules.
The Alabama crash involved a truck driver on his third day on the job that Duffy said had failed a skills test for speeding during the test. That truck driver, who was not a U.S. citizen, struck four vehicles stopped at a red light, killing two people.
Fatal crash in Florida prompts scrutiny
On Aug. 12, Harjinder Singh made an illegal turn from northbound lanes of Florida’s Turnpike about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of West Palm Beach, the Florida Highway Patrol said. A minivan that was traveling behind him was unable to avoid the truck’s trailer, which blocked the northbound lanes.
Two passengers in the minivan died at the scene and the driver died at a hospital. Singh and a passenger in his truck were not injured.
Singh lived in California but he was originally issued a commercial driver's license in Washington before California issued him a license later. The fallout from the crash fueled a verbal tussle between California Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Trump administration.
Singh is charged with three state counts of vehicular homicide and immigration violations. The federal government has asked that he be transferred to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody after his criminal case is complete.
Singh faces an arraignment hearing Monday on charges of vehicular homicide and manslaughter, according to court records in St. Lucie County, Florida.
Singh has retained a private lawyer, Natalie Knight-Tai, to represent him, records show.
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Associated Press Writer Jeff Martin contributed to this report.