WASHINGTON \u2014 The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) has cancelled 17,000 non-domiciled commercial driver\u2019s licenses following a federal audit of the state\u2019s CDL program, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.<\/p>\n
In a press statement on Wednesday, DOT asserted that state officials admitted to illegally issuing the CDLs \u201cto dangerous foreign drivers,\u201d and that DMV sent notices to the license holders that their license no longer meets federal requirements and will expire in 60 days.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter weeks of claiming they did nothing wrong, Gavin Newsom and California have been caught red-handed,\u201d said Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is just the tip of the iceberg. My team will continue to force California to prove they have removed every illegal immigrant from behind the wheel of semitrucks and school buses.\u201d<\/p>\n
FreightWaves has reached out to California\u2019s DMV for comment.<\/p>\n
FMCSA Chief Counsel Jesse Elison notified Newsom and his DMV in a September 26 letter<\/a> that a sampling of the roughly 62,000 drivers in California holding unexpired, non-domiciled CDLs or commercial learner\u2019s permits issued by the state revealed that 26% \u2013 which extrapolates to roughly 16,000 \u2013 failed to comply with federal requirements.<\/p>\n \u201cEven more concerning is the fact that, for three of the transactions, the DMV was unable to provide documentation showing that it validated the drivers\u2019 lawful presence documents before issuing a non-domiciled CDL,\u201d Elison stated. \u201cConsequently, based on the documentation provided, it appears that the DMV issued a non-domiciled CDL to three drivers without validating their lawful presence.\u201d<\/p>\n