The Trump administration is limiting economic opportunities for some immigrants on the road.

The U.S. Department of Transportation is now only granting Commercial Driver’s Licenses or CDLs to citizens or permanent residents like green card holders, which could put hundreds of thousands of immigrants across the country who already have CDLs and drive trucks or buses, out of work.

NY1 reports on the impact of the new rule on immigrants in the city who feel like their lives have been upended.

What You Need To Know

The U.S. Department of Transportation is now only granting Commercial Driver’s Licenses or CDLs to citizens or permanent residents like green card holders, which could put hundreds of thousands of immigrants across the country who already have CDLs and drive trucks or buses, out of work

Wilson Mendoza Garcia, who’s seeking asylum in the city, wants to be a school bus driver. After months of training for his CDL, including at the Brooklyn nonprofit organization Fifth Avenue Committee, he was denied by the DMV because of the new federal rule

The Trump administration has threatened states such as California and Minnesota to comply with its new CDL rule or risk losing millions in federal highway funding. When NY1 reached out to the New York State DMV, a spokesperson confirmed immigrant CDLs are paused and pointed back to the DOT’s federal regulation

Wilson Mendoza Garcia wants to be a school bus driver. He’s been a delivery driver in the city for six years and drove a truck in his native Colombia before that.

He says he had to flee Bogota for asylum in the U.S. eight years ago.

“Just for looking for the best opportunities, jobs, for opportunities, changing my life,” he said.

Mendoza Garcia enrolled in a career training program at the Brooklyn nonprofit Fifth Avenue Committee to get his CDL. He says his asylum case is still pending, but he has a work permit

Despite spending four months in the classroom and behind the wheel training, the Trump administration has put a major roadblock between him and his dream.

In September, the U.S. Department of Transportation issued a new rule: only citizens and permanent residents, such as green card holders, can get a CDL.

“I feel too, too, too, too sad I can say because I do everything for the end. You cannot get your CDL driver’s license,” Mendoza Garcia said.

“It was shocking because half the people in our program were authorized to work, authorized to be in this program, and it changed. And the way we found out about it, is that they went to the DMV to sit to take their test, and they were denied entry,” Brian Mendes, director of adult education at Fifth Avenue Committee, which works toward advancing economic, social and racial justice, said.

According to Mendes, it has helped more than 200 bus drivers get on the roads, including tractor-trailer drivers and some who’ve gone on to work for the MTA.

The new rule affects nearly 200,000 immigrants across the country, who will be out of work, according to the Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

NY1 reached out to the DOT to ask about why it implemented this policy now and how long it’s expected to stay in place.

In a statement, a U.S. DOT spokesperson said: “Under Secretary Duffy, the U.S. trucking industry will no longer be able to operate under the ‘wild west’ standards that have plagued the industry and made it fraught with fraud. This administration is laser focused on reversing the erosion of regulatory standards that have created unsafe conditions for both truckers and the American families who share the roads with them.”

The Trump administration has threatened states like California and Minnesota to comply with its new CDL rule or risk losing millions in federal highway funding.

When NY1 reached out to the New York State DMV, a spokesperson confirmed immigrant CDLs are paused and pointed back to the DOT’s federal regulation.

“We know our drivers, the people that come to this program, as being some of the most reliable, safe and skilled drivers,” Mendes said.

Those are skills Garcia hopes he can use in the future to build his new life, and save money to send back home to his father in Colombia.

Garcia says he has an attorney, and the next court date for his asylum case has not been scheduled.

Meanwhile, the city has filed a written statement to support the lawsuit filed by two immigrant truck drivers, the AFL-CIO, and the American Federation of Teachers against the federal government in D.C. Circuit Court challenging the new federal CDL rule.