California revokes 17k commercial licenses given to migrants but Gavin Newsom denies that immigration was the reason
California plans to revoke 17,000 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 said that isn’t the reason.Newsom said 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 recently 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.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 officials didn’t immediately respond to questions seeking more details about why these licenses are being revoked.Duffy said 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 said 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 government shutdown, but the Transportation Depart...