New York gave illegal driver’s licenses to foreign truck drivers: Feds

New York has intentionally been issuing truck driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants in violation of federal rules, the Transportation Department said Friday, and the state will be stripped of tens of millions of highway dollars unless it revokes every illegally issued license and complies with the law.

A staggering 53% of commercial driver’s licenses issued to nondomiciled people, those whose firm legal residence is outside the U.S., broke the rules.

Some were in the U.S. illegally and others had short-term work permits, but the state issued them licenses valid for up to eight years.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said New York was the “worst” of all states in violating the federal rules, which he said long predate the Trump administration but have been ignored by states and have gone unenforced by previous presidents.

“The mission is to get compliance to make sure we have safe drivers,” he said at a press conference. “We will pull every dollar possible from every single state that’s unwilling to work with this administration and these long-standing rules.”

The Washington Times has reached out to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office for this report.

Mr. Duffy previously threatened California with a loss of funds.

Gov. Gavin Newsom rushed to comply, revoking 17,000 commercial driver’s licenses of nondomiciled drivers that were issued in violation of the law.

Typically, this refers to migrants who lack a solid legal status but have been granted parole or some other temporary status that includes a work permit. That work permit is valid for a relatively short time, but California, New York and some other states issue permits that are good for much longer.

Federal officials reported finding one case in New York where a person’s work permit had expired in April but was subsequently issued an eight-year permit in September. In another case, an eight-year permit was issued in February, even though the person’s work permit was set to expire in May.

California and New York account for half of all nondomiciled commercial driver’s licenses in the country, Mr. Duffy said.

Mr. Duffy praised California for revoking the 17,000 licenses but noted that the state still issues commercial driver’s licenses to people who lack English proficiency.

He said the English rules are long-standing and important for safety.

“If there is a crash, you have to be able to communicate with law enforcement: ‘What’s on your rig, where are you going?’” Mr. Duffy said.

Migrant drivers have made headlines in recent months with their involvement in a string of deadly crashes involving big rigs.

Three people were killed in a crash on a Southern California freeway. Authorities charged Jashanpreet Singh, who jumped the border and was caught and released by the Biden administration in 2022, with vehicular manslaughter in that crash.

Mr. Singh, who reportedly had limited English proficiency, had been granted a commercial driver’s license by California, which said he had a work permit allowing him to be in the country.

Another catch-and-release migrant, Rajinder Kumar, was charged with criminally negligent homicide after a truck collision left two people dead in Oregon.

He was licensed by California, based on a 2023 work permit issued by the Biden administration.

Mr. Duffy said he wants to crack down on commercial driver’s license “mills,” which churn out drivers without providing the training they should receive. They take those certifications to states and walk away with licenses, the secretary said.

“If we’re going to have drivers on American roadways, they need to be the best,” he said.