California Revokes Migrant Truck Drivers' Licenses

Deadly crash in California renews federal criticism of immigrant truck drivers:

A 21-year-old semitruck driver accused of being under the influence of drugs and causing a fiery crash that killed three people on a southern California freeway is in the country illegally, U.S. Homeland Security officials said Thursday.

Jashanpreet Singh was arrested and jailed after Tuesday’s eight-vehicle crash in Ontario, California, that also left four people injured.

. . . Singh, of Yuba City, California, is from India and entered the U.S. illegally in 2022 across the southern border, Homeland Security said Thursday in a post on X.

After several well-publicized fatal accidents involving illegal migrants, Trasportation Secretary Duffy began criticizing California's lax standards for issuing commercial drivers' licenses. According to Newsweek,

Thousands of California driver’s licenses face “decertification” unless the state meets certain federal requirements, the Department of Transportation (DOT) has warned.

. . . California’s DMV notified around 17,000 commercial drivers earlier in November that their CDLs would be canceled within 60 days.

It follows a high-profile accident and increased scrutiny from President Donald Trump’s administration concerning compliance with federal and state licensing regulations for noncitizen drivers.

The action came after a federal audit led by U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy identified discrepancies in California's issuance practices, specifically that CDL expiration dates sometimes extended beyond drivers’ lawful presence in the United States, contrary to state law.

The clip from CBS afiliated KBAK in Bakersfield provides a highly selective account of the impact the revocations will have on migrants -- in particular, it never asks any of them if they're here legally; it doesn't raise the question at all. I asked Chrome AI mode, "What can holders of California CDLs who are having them revoked do to get them reinstated?" It answered,

In California, a revoked commercial driver's license (CDL) cannot be simply "reinstated." Instead, once the revocation period is over, the holder must apply for a brand-new license. The specific process and requirements depend heavily on the original reason for the revocation.

In the case of the 17,000 revoked CDLs in question, it appears that there is no theoretical obstacle to the drivers immediately reapplying for new licenses. I asked Chrome AI mode, "Are the 17,000 California truck drivers whose CDLs are being revoked for not meeting federal standards eligible to reapply for new licenses immediately?" It answered,

The eligibility for the affected California truck drivers to reapply immediately for a new commercial driver's license (CDL) depends on their current legal presence and work authorization status.

The revocations stem from a federal audit that found the California DMV issued non-domiciled CDLs with expiration dates extending beyond the drivers' authorized period of stay in the U.S., a violation of federal and state law. The licenses are being expired with 60-day notices, not permanently revoked in the traditional sense of a punitive action for a serious driving offense.

So OK, it's a bureaucratic snafu that will require a trip to the DMV within the next 60 days, something we all hate, but it's life, stuff happens, right? Except that since May, all US drivers license applications have required proof of legal residence, including here in California. To get a new CDL, applicants must:

• Submit a completed 10 Year History Record Check (DL 939), Medical Examination Report (MER) Form (MCSA 5875), and Medical Examiner's Certificate (MEC) (MCSA 5876).
• Verify identity and residency with acceptable documents.
• Pay the nonrefundable application fee.
• Pass all required knowledge (written) tests, vision tests, and the CDL skills/drive test in the appropriate commercial vehicle.

I had to submit identity and residency documents a couple months ago to renew my own ordinary driver's license. It meant I had to renew my passport, because I'd already found trying to get my birth certificate an impossible tangle, but hey, it's life, stuff happens, and I was able to get this all done.

Clearly the problem for the migrant truck drivers interviewed by KBAK, many speaking in barely understandable English, is not that they have to visit the DMV; the problem is that they won't be able to supply acceptable identity and residency documents. I asked Chrome AI mode,"Hw many of the 17,000 truck drivers who are having their Clifornia CDL revoked will be unable to obtain new licenses due to not having documentation?" It replied in part,

New federal regulations estimate that 97% of current non-domiciled drivers (around 194,000 nationally) will "exit the freight market" in the next few years because they won't qualify for licenses under the stricter criteria, which only allow for specific, rare work visas (H-2a, H-2b, or E-2).

Many of the affected drivers are immigrant workers, including a significant number from the Sikh and Punjabi community in California, who are now afraid to drive due to the uncertainty surrounding their status.

Well, on one hand, the migrant drivers may be afraid to drive, but it seems to me that the rest of us are quite reasonably also afraid to have them drive. If the drivers can't meet ordinary qualfications for CDLs, that's a big problem.