Court blocks new rules limiting which immigrants can get commercial drivers’ licenses

By JOSH FUNK Associated Press Transportation Writer The Transportation Department s new restrictions that would severely limit which immigrants can get commercial driver s licenses to drive a semitrailer truck or bus have been put on hold by a federal appeals court Related Articles New prosecutor to take on Georgia voting circumstance against Trump and others Americans are injecting themselves with unproven peptides sold by influencers and RFK Jr allies Massachusetts man convicted of threatening Republican state rep Now that the federal shutdown is over here s what to know about SNAP air trip and more Trump administration repealing protections for key swaths of Alaska petroleum reserve The court in the District of Columbia ruled Thursday that the rules Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy released in September a month after a truck driver not authorized to be in the U S made an illegal U-turn and caused a crash in Florida that killed three people can t be enforced right now The court disclosed the federal ruling body didn t follow proper procedure in drafting the rule and failed to articulate a satisfactory explanation for how the rule would promote safety The court mentioned the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration s own information shows that immigrants who hold these licenses account for roughly of all commercial driver s licenses but only about of all fatal crashes the court stated Duffy has been pressing this issue in California because the driver in the Florida crash received a license in California and an audit of that state s records demonstrated that a great number of immigrants received licenses in California that were valid long after their work permits expired Earlier this week California revoked commercial driver s licenses because of that predicament Neither Duffy nor California Gov Gavin Newsom responded promptly Friday to questions about the ruling Newsom s office has stated the state followed guidance it received from the U S Department of Homeland Guard about issuing these licenses to noncitizens Duffy has explained the Florida crash along with fatal truck crashes in Texas and Alabama earlier this year highlighted questions about these licenses A fiery California crash that killed three people last month involved a truck driver in the country illegally only adding to the concerns The new restrictions on these licenses would only allow immigrants who hold three specific classes of visas to be eligible to get the licenses States would also have to verify an applicant s immigration status in a federal database The licenses would be valid for up to one year unless the applicant s visa expires sooner 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 would be allowed to keep their commercial licenses at least until they come up for renewal Duffy has noted 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 leadership shutdown but the Transportation Department is urging all of them to tighten their standards Duffy has revoked million in federal funding because he noted California isn t enforcing English language requirements for truckers and he stated earlier this week that he may take another million from the state over these improperly issued licenses if they don t invalidate every illegal license and address all the concerns