The sanctuary state of California has delayed the cancellation of approximately 17,000 commercial truck driver’s licenses obtained by illegal immigrants.
The California Department of Motor Vehicles announced this week that it will hold off on wiping out the thousands of licenses on Jan. 5, postponing the action for 60 days, a move that is likely to draw the ire of the Trump administration.
“Commercial drivers are an important part of our economy — our supply chains don’t move, and our communities don’t stay connected without them,” California DMV Director Steve Gordon said in a statement. “We are hopeful that our collaboration with the federal government will give [the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration] confidence in our updated processes to allow California to promptly resume issuance of nondomiciled commercial driver’s licenses.”
Illegal immigrants who were previously issued commercial driver’s licenses will now have an additional two months to reapply for the document and retake their exams.
In May, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy implemented new guidance to enforce the English language proficiency requirement for truck drivers as part of a broader federal effort to ensure they can read and follow road signs.
According to the DOT, a previous investigation by the Federal Motor Safety Administration uncovered “significant failures” by California, New Mexico, and Washington to mark drivers “out of service” for English language proficiency violations.
The Trump administration threatened to pull millions of dollars of federal funding from blue states, including California, New Mexico, and Washington, unless the states adopt and enforce English language proficiency requirements for commercial drivers.
The California Highway Patrol has publicly stated that it does not intend to follow the federal regulation.
A number of fatal traffic incidents involving illegal immigrants granted commercial driver’s licenses have surfaced nationwide.
In August, Florida police identified an illegal immigrant, Harjinder Singh, as the driver of an 18-wheeler truck who caused a fatal crash in St. Lucie County that resulted in the deaths of three people.
Singh had ignored a road sign that showed no U-turns were permitted at the place where he attempted to make an illegal U-turn.
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In recent months, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has gone after these commercial truck drivers.
In November, the DOT announced that California would have to revoke thousands of “illegally issued” commercial driver’s licenses.
