California immigrant truckers face license crisis as new federal rules block renewals
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Thousands of immigrants in California won’t be able to renew or receive nondomiciled commercial driver’s licenses amid new federal guidelines that went into effect Monday.Federal regulators said the new rules will impact nearly 200,000 drivers nationwide and limit licenses to certain visa holders.Moving forward, states will be required to verify an applicant’s immigration status through a federal portal and no longer accept work permits as proof of eligibility.U.S.
Transportation Secretary Sean P.Duffy has said that the goal of the new rules is to improve safety on America’s roadways.“Moving forward, unqualified foreign drivers will be unable to get a license to operate an 80,000-pound big rig,” he has previously said in a statement.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, we are putting the safety of the driving public first.”The changes come more than a week after federal regulators ordered California’s Department of Motor Vehicles to cancel about 13,000 such licenses due to a clerical error.
Business The Sikh Coalition and Asian Law Caucus are suing the California DMV, alleging the state violated truck drivers’ rights when it revoked 17,000 licenses.Federal regulators said the licenses were illegally issued because they remained valid past a work permit’s expiration date.State officials tried to correct the mistake but were not allowed to do so by federal regulators.
Immigrant rights groups said the new federal guidelines create severe economic hardship for immigrant commercial drivers in California, who are lawfully qualified to work but cannot obtain licenses, exacerbating a truck driver shortage.They said the new rules also inflame anti-immigrant bias by perpetuating the myth that all immigrant drivers are unqualified or dangerous.
“This federal administration is using their war on immigration to remove qualified, hardworking commercial drivers f...