New York may lose $73M in federal highway funds over flawed immigrant commercial driver’s licenses
New York routinely issues immigrants licenses that can be valid even after they are allowed to be in the country legally, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Friday and threatened to withhold $73 million in highway funds unless the system is fixed.
New York officials said they follow all federal rules regarding licenses and verify the immigration status of drivers.
New York is the latest state Duffy has targeted in a bid to make truck and bus drivers eligible for driver’s licenses, which he launched after a truck driver without a permit to be in the United States made an illegal U-turn in Florida and caused a crash. killing three people. However, the rules regarding these licenses have been in effect for years.
The Department of Transportation has said it monitors these nonresident licenses nationwide, but so far the states it has threatened to enforce are all run by Democratic governors. But Duffy said Friday that the effort is not political. He said it’s about making sure everyone behind the wheel of an 80,000-pound truck is qualified and safe.
Duffy said federal investigators found that more than half of the 200 licenses they examined in New York were improperly issued and that many defaulted to being valid for eight years, regardless of when an immigrant’s work permit expired. He also said the state could not prove that it had verified the immigration status of those drivers for the 32,000 active nonresident business licenses it issued. Researchers also found some examples of New York issuing licenses even if applicants’ work permits had expired.
“If more than half of the licenses reviewed were illegally issued, that is not only a mistake but a dereliction of duty by state leadership. Governor (Kathy) Hochul must immediately revoke these illegally issued licenses,” Duffy said.
New York has 30 days to respond to these concerns. State DMV spokesman Walter McClure defended the state’s practices.
“Secretary Duffy is once again lying about New York State in an attempt to distract from the failed, chaotic administration he represents. The truth is this: Commercial Driver’s Licenses are regulated by the Federal Government, and the New York State DMV complies with federal rules and will continue to do so,” McClure said.
Immigrants make up about 20% of all truck drivers, but these non-residential licenses represent only about 5% of all commercial driver’s licenses. Ministry of Transport also proposed new restrictions This would severely limit which non-citizens could obtain a license but not go to court. suspend new rules.
Duffy threatened to withhold millions California, Pennsylvania and Minnesota, after inspections found significant problems under existing rules, such as allowing commercial licenses to remain valid after an immigrant truck driver’s work permit has expired. This pressure spurred California into action Cancel 17,000 licenses.
