CA loses $160M in federal funds for delayed cancellation of 17,000 commercial driver's licenses

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- On Wednesday, the Federal Government announced it was withholding $160M successful backing from California for delaying the cancellation of 17,000 commercialized driver's licenses held by immigrants.

The frost comes aft a 2025 audit recovered issues with valid licenses. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy gave the authorities until Monday to revoke them.

Just earlier the New Year, the California Department of Motor Vehicles announced it would widen the anticipated cancellation day of thousands of commercialized driver's licenses for non-citizens by 60 days.

The update is acceptable to interaction thousands of motortruck drivers successful the state.

"A bulk of it would beryllium Sikhs and Hispanics successful California," said Everett Yockey of Advanced Career Institute of Fresno.

Yockey is the CFO and Director of Operations for the Advanced Career Institute of Fresno, a backstage concern and commercialized schoolhouse that trains astir 1,200 to 1,400 students a twelvemonth done its CDL grooming program.

According to the December 30 announcement, the authorities would enactment with representatives of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to resoluteness concerns astir the DMV's CDL licensing process earlier March 6, 2026.

Yockey says ACI precocious underwent an FMCSA audit, with akin inspections apt to hap implicit the adjacent 60 days to place improper grooming sites and practices.

"We were told immoderate schools closed down due to the fact that of it," said Yockey.

Last fall, the Trump Administration announced caller guidelines tightening restrictions connected commercialized motortruck drivers nationwide.
"The process for issuing these licenses is perfectly 100% broken," said Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.

Non-citizens would request an employment-based visa and acquisition a mandatory national migration presumption check.

In September, Secretary Duffy acceptable a 30-day deadline for the California DMV to comply, oregon hazard losing national road funds.
Yockey said thousands of motortruck drivers were abruptly facing the anticipation of having their driver's licenses revoked.

"Even though they had the close to enactment successful the United States, they didn't person a close to clasp a CDL," said Yockey.

Yockey said past fall's crackdown was the national government's mode of stepping successful pursuing deadly crashes, including 1 past August successful Florida, erstwhile a motortruck operator from India made an amerciable U-turn, sidesplitting 3 and sparking a nationalist statement connected immigration, licensing, and commercialized driving safety.

The California Department of Motor Vehicles' Director Steve Gordon said, "Commercial drivers are an important portion of our economy, our proviso chains don't move, and our communities don't enactment connected without them."

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