California revokes 17,000 commercial driver’s licenses for immigrants

By JOSH FUNK California plans to revoke commercial driver s licenses given to immigrants after the Trump administration raised concerns about people in the country illegally improperly receiving licenses to drive a semitruck or a bus But Gov Gavin Newsom disclosed that isn t the reason Newsom stated the revocations are for violations of state law but he didn t provide specifics Both the Democratic governor s office and the Republican Trump Administration s Transportation Department agreed that these licenses violated the existing standard that were in place before Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy of late tightened the rules following a nationwide commercial driver s license audit launched after a driver in the country illegally made a U-turn and caused a crash in Florida that killed three people Related Articles Santa Clara County files suit against in-home care business for alleged wage theft You don t have certain talents Trump defends H- B visas as needed despite moves to raise costs ICE agent points firearm at woman in car filming in Southern California prompting police response The Trump administration s H- B visa price hike will stifle innovation British journalist detained by ICE at SFO to be issued following agreement to return to U K Fatal truck crashes in Texas and Alabama earlier this year also highlight questions about these licenses A fiery California crash involving an illegal immigrant truck driver last month that killed three more people only added to the concerns California state transportation administrators didn t forthwith respond to questions seeking more details about why these licenses are being revoked Duffy revealed Wednesday that California s action to revoke these licenses is an admission that the state had acted improperly even though the state had previously defended its licensing standards California launched its review of commercial driver s licenses the state had issued after Duffy raised concerns Duffy previously imposed new restrictions on which immigrants can qualify for one of these commercial driver s licenses He announced earlier this fall that California and five other states had improperly issued commercial driver s licenses to noncitizens but California is the only state Duffy has taken action against because it was the first one where an audit was completed The reviews in the other states have been delayed by the cabinet shutdown but the Transportation Department is urging all of them to tighten up their standards Duffy revoked million in federal funding because he reported California isn t enforcing English language requirements for truckers and he reiterated Wednesday that he will take another million from the state over these improperly issued licenses if they don t invalidate every illegal license and address all the concerns But revoking these licenses is part of the state s effort to comply After weeks of claiming they did nothing wrong Gavin Newsom and California have been caught red-handed Now that we ve exposed their lies illegally issued trucking licenses are being revoked Duffy disclosed This is just the tip of iceberg My group will continue to force California to prove they have removed every illegal immigrant from behind the wheel of semitrucks and school buses Newsom s office commented that every one of the drivers whose licenses are being revoked had valid work authorizations from the federal cabinet Once again the Sean Road Rules Duffy fails to share the truth spreading easily disproven falsehoods in a sad and desperate attempt to please his dear leader Newsom s spokesman Brandon Richards disclosed The new rules for commercial driver s licenses that Duffy released in September make getting commercial driver s licenses extremely hard for immigrants 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 be valid for up to one year unless the applicant s visa expires sooner than that Under the new rules only of the noncitizens who have commercial licenses would qualify for them which would only be available to drivers who have an H- a H- b or E- visa H- a is for temporary agricultural workers while H- B is for temporary nonagricultural workers and E- is for people who make substantial investments in a U S business But the rules won t be enforced retroactively so those drivers will be allowed to keep their commercial licenses at least until they come up for renewal Those new requirements were not in place at the time these licenses were issued But these drivers were given notices that their licenses will expire in days Duffy revealed in September that investigators identified that one quarter of the licenses they reviewed in California shouldn t have been issued He cited four California licenses that remained valid after the driver s work permit expired sometimes years after Newsom s office announced the state followed guidance it received from the U S Department of Homeland Protection about issuing these licenses to noncitizens Associated Press writer Sophie Austin contributed to this document from Sacramento California