Thousands of immigrants in California won\u2019t be able to renew or receive nondomiciled commercial driver’s licenses amid new federal guidelines that went into effect Monday.<\/p>\n
Federal regulators said the new rules will impact nearly 200,000 drivers nationwide and limit licenses to certain visa holders. Moving forward, states will be required to verify an applicant’s immigration status through a federal portal and no longer accept work permits as proof of eligibility.<\/p>\n
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy has said that the goal of the new rules is to improve safety on America’s roadways.<\/p>\n
\u201cMoving forward, unqualified foreign drivers will be unable to get a license to operate an 80,000-pound big rig,” he has previously said in a statement. “Under President Trump\u2019s leadership, we are putting the safety of the driving public first. \u201d<\/p>\n
The changes come more than a week after federal regulators ordered California\u2019s Department of Motor Vehicles to cancel about 13,000 such licenses due to a clerical error.<\/p>\n
Read more: Indian truckers sue California’s DMV for revoking their licenses<\/a><\/p>\n Federal regulators said the licenses were illegally issued because they remained valid past a work permit\u2019s expiration date. State officials tried to correct the mistake but were not allowed to do so by federal regulators.<\/a><\/p>\n Immigrant rights groups said the new federal guidelines create severe economic hardship for immigrant commercial drivers in California, who are lawfully qualified to work but cannot obtain licenses, exacerbating a truck driver shortage<\/a>. They said the new rules also inflame anti-immigrant bias by perpetuating the myth that all immigrant drivers are unqualified or dangerous.<\/p>\n “This federal administration is using their war on immigration to remove qualified, hardworking commercial drivers from our workforce who meet language and safety rules,\u201d said DMV Director Steve Gordon. \u201cThere are no guarantees that additional solutions will become available to help these drivers and their employers.\u201d<\/p>\n At least 46 states operate nondomiciled driver\u2019s license programs, which allows immigrants who are authorized to work in the country to drive commercial vehicles. Such permitted drivers include visa holders, refugees, asylees and DACA recipients.<\/p>\n The new guidelines would limit the licenses to temporary agricultural workers with H-2A visas, temporary nonagricultural workers with H-2B visas and investors with E-2 visas.<\/p>\n Read more: As Trump pushes deportations, immigration data becomes harder to find<\/a><\/p>\n California\u2019s DMV, labor unions and advocacy groups have sued the federal government over the new regulations. The courts have yet to hear the cases.<\/p>\n Implementation of the new rules will cost American taxpayers about $3.2 million the first year, then about a million dollars annually thereafter to realign the rules with the new federal standards, according to estimates from federal regulators<\/a>.<\/p>\n California\u2019s nondomiciled licensing program came under scrutiny last year following two fatal accidents in Florida<\/a> and San Bernardino County<\/a> that involved two truck drivers living in the country illegally. Both drivers had obtained their licenses in California.<\/p>\n The deadly accidents brought negative attention to Punjabi and Sikh truck drivers. At least one of the drivers was a Sikh. Across the U.S. there are about 150,000 Sikh truck drivers, according to the Sikh Coalition, a nonprofit group.<\/p>\n The accidents occurred as the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, or FMCSA, was conducting a nationwide audit of the nondomiciled licensing programs. The FMCSA operates under the Department of Transportation and regulates and provides safety oversight of commercial vehicles.<\/p>\n In September, auditors found<\/a> that California was not in compliance with federal rules and later ordered the state to revoke more than 17,000 licenses<\/a> due to the mismatched expiration dates. It also told the state to stop issuing the licenses. Since then, DMV officials said the immigration status of some drivers changed, reducing the number to 13,000.<\/p>\n California was set to revoke the licenses by Jan. 5 but extended the deadline to March 6 amid the threat of a civil class-action lawsuit<\/a> by the Asian Law Caucus and the Sikh Coalition.<\/p>\n Read more: Trump’s mass deportation agenda is at a crossroads with the Homeland Security shake-up<\/a><\/p>\n In response, the federal government pulled about $160 million<\/a> in transportation funding from the state until California comes into compliance. California then sued the federal government.<\/p>\n Two weeks ago, an Alameda County Superior Court judge issued a ruling in the civil class-action lawsuit, ordering California\u2019s DMV to allow nondomiciled commercial driver’s license holders who faced a cancellation of their licenses to reapply. Though the DMV would have to accept the applications, federal regulators coupled with new federal guidelines are preventing the agency from issuing new licenses.<\/p>\n State officials have told drivers to apply for Class C licenses, which can take weeks to obtain.<\/p>\n The cancellations and new rules have brought uncertainty for thousands of drivers who now find themselves without work and no reprieve from the courts, which will determine whether to put a stay on the new rules.<\/p>\n At least one truck driver, who did not want to be identified because he fears retaliation by the federal government, expressed frustration at both federal and state governments.<\/p>\n Read more: Immigrant truck drivers in limbo as feds deny California effort to reissue licenses<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThe DMV made an error on these licenses and that\u2019s what led to this,\u201d he said. \u201cAs for the federal government, it\u2019s all BS.\u201d<\/p>\n He said he and his wife have been stressed out since his license was canceled on March 6. He said his wife has found some work cleaning homes but it is not enough to cover their expenses.<\/p>\n \u201cHow am I going to pay rent? How am I going to pay my truck payments and insurance?\u201d the man asked.<\/p>\n The man said his bills include $3,000 for monthly rent, $1,000 for lease payments for his truck and $1,500 for insurance.<\/p>\n The man said he has applied for a Class C license but in doing so he had to forfeit his expired driver licenses and will have to wait weeks for a driver’s license, making it almost impossible for him to find work.<\/p>\n “It’s too much stress,” he said. “I can’t sleep at night.”<\/p>\n