California sets up a showdown with Washington by reissuing licenses to migrant truckers
California is preparing for a new showdown with Washington by delaying the revocation of thousands of commercial driver’s licenses held by immigrants.
The Department of Motor Vehicles announced Tuesday that 17,000 immigrant truck drivers whose licenses were revoked can now keep their licenses for an additional 60 days, allowing drivers to retake their exams and do whatever it takes to stay legal.
“Commercial drivers are an essential part of our economy; our supply chains don’t move and our communities don’t stay connected without them,” DMV Director Steve Gordon said in a statement after the extension.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy reacted by threatening to cut off $160 million in federal funding to California if the state doesn’t meet a Jan. 5 deadline to revoke uninspected foreign truck driver licenses.
“California does NOT have an ‘extension’ that will continue to break the law and put Americans at risk on the roads,” Duffy said. sent In X.
He previously withheld $40 million in federal funding from California for not requiring English proficiency tests for truckers.
California’s move to delay license revocations comes just days later Sikh Coalition and Asian Law Group filed a class action lawsuit alleging that the DMV failed to provide appropriate recourse for affected drivers, refused to renew or issue commercial driver’s licenses, and violated their rights.
The 60-day extension allows drivers whose licenses will expire on January 5 to continue driving until March 6.
“This is a small, positive step forward,” said Manpreet Kaur, deputy mayor of Bakersfield, home to many immigrant truckers. “We are extremely relieved to see this in the Bakersfield community.”
Bakersfield is a trucking hub in the Central Valley with a concentration of the Punjabi Sikh community affected by the license revocation decision. Kaur said truckers are being unfairly targeted in the political tug-of-war between state policy and federal rules.
Punjabi Sikhs are a pillar of the American trucking industry. An estimated 150,000 people work in trucking, mostly on the West Coast.
Commercial driver’s licenses for non-American drivers became a political flashpoint in 2025 after an undocumented Punjabi truck driver was involved in a crash in Florida that left three people dead.
A federal audit found that most commercial driver’s licenses issued to immigrant drivers will expire long after the immigrant truckers’ legal stay in the United States.
Critics have argued that drivers should not be penalized for clerical errors at the DMV.
“I believe all 17,000 truckers can take this load. [commercial driver’s license] “There will be testing by March,” said Matt Cartwright, a transportation and personal injury attorney and former U.S. representative from Pennsylvania. “Safe drivers will have no problem passing.”
Tray Gober of LGR Law Firm said the extension could be used to conduct a more comprehensive screening, such as verifying status, validating qualifications and documenting the process so the public can trust the outcome and ensure safety.
Trucking trade groups once complained about driver shortages and welcomed immigrant drivers. Now the associations say the shortage no longer exists because of the stagnation in freight and support the federal crackdown on foreign drivers. Some supported the move to sack unqualified drivers who cannot read road signs.
Attorney Doug Burnetti, who follows the policy changes closely, said one of the new issues that could arise in reapplication is “whether immigrants whose licenses have been revoked have surrendered to the new rules and given up their right to sue for improper revocation.”
“I suspect this may be fact-specific and dependent on each case, but if I were representing the federal government, I would argue that refiling under the new rules waives any objection to revocation under the old rules,” Brunetti said.
On the other hand, truckers will claim they have no choice but to re-apply to get their licenses back, he said.
“This is an interesting question that will eventually have to be resolved by a judge,” he said.
