The California Department of Motor Vehicles canceled about 13,000 non-domiciled CDLs on March 6, the state agency announced.

That doesn’t necessarily mean the agency agreed with the move, however.

A news release from the California DMV made it quite clear that the decision came from the federal government.

“This federal administration is using their war on immigration to remove qualified, hardworking commercial drivers from our workforce who meet language and safety rules,” California DMV Director Steve Gordon said in the news release.

The agency said the 13,000 cancellations don’t apply to all non-domiciled CDL holders in the state and that those affected have already received notice from the DMV.

In February, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration issued a final rule that projects to take nearly 200,000 non-domiciled CDL holders off the road. Under the rule, an Employment Authorization Document would no longer be enough to obtain a non-domiciled CDL. Additionally, asylum seekers, asylees, refugees and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients would be ineligible.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has pointed to several high-profile crashes involving drivers with non-domiciled CDLs as the reason for the rule, which is set to take effect March 16.

California has argued that its CDL holders are involved in fatal crashes at a rate “far below the national average.”

But on Jan. 7, Duffy announced that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration was withholding about $160 million from California for failing to cancel more than 17,000 non-domiciled CDLs that the agency deemed to be illegal.

The California DMV said it tried to issue corrected CDLs to affected drivers but was blocked by FMCSA. Additionally, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit recently denied the California DMV’s request for an emergency stay that would have allowed it to reissue non-domiciled CDLs to eligible individuals. In a separate ruling, the Alameda County Superior Court said on March 2 that the California DMV must allow the non-domiciled CDL holders who received a cancellation letter to reapply for a CDL. However, the DMV is still unable to reissue any non-domiciled CDLs until FMCSA removes its mandated “pause.”

The drivers with canceled CDLs will need to apply for a regular driver’s license before they can legally drive “their regular cars,” the state agency said.

A spokesperson for the California DMV told Land Line that the reason 13,000 CDLs were canceled rather than 17,000 is because “since the original review, CDL holders either became permanent residents or U.S. citizen or voluntarily downgraded to a non-commercial driver’s license.” Additionally, some of the CDLs in question expired before needing to be canceled.

The Sikh Coalition, which filed a class-action complaint against the California DMV over the cancellation of non-domiciled CDLs, has called the cancellation “unlawful” and said that the issue often stems from a “minor paperwork discrepancy.”

“We’re deeply disappointed that the court did not provide the emergency relief that would have prevented these drivers’ livelihoods from being interrupted,” Sikh Coalition Director Munmeeth Kaur wrote in an email response to Land Line. “Now, the responsibility is on the DMV to fully comply with the court’s order from earlier last week. This means they need to quickly and clearly explain how drivers can reapply for canceled licenses, and make clear the timeline on which they will be able to do so.” LL