New York I filed a lawsuit on Friday to appeal the federal Department of Transportation’s decision to withhold nearly $74 million in highway funds because the state refused to rescind nearly $33,000. Questionable commercial driver’s licenses For immigrants since a vetting process revealed problems last year.
New York is joining California in filing a lawsuit against Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s efforts to tighten the rules under which immigrants can qualify for a commercial driver’s license and ensure that states properly enforce existing rules.
The federal government did not immediately respond to the new lawsuit, but officials were clear about the problems they found in more than half of the 200 licenses they reviewed. Officials said they found major flaws such as licenses remaining valid long after the immigrant was allowed to be in the country.
The case has become more prominent August accident in Florida It involved a truck driver who Duffy said should never have had a license for making an illegal turn that killed three people. I lost California $200 million due to concerns about non-domestic commercial driver’s licenses and whether they enforce English language requirements for truck drivers. Several other states – incl PennsylvaniaAnd Minnesota North Carolina – They were warned that they were at risk of losing funding.
But most states either complied or remained in negotiations with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Federal government He reviewed the records Related to these non-resident CDLs in each state.
New York Attorney General Letitia James said the state believes it properly followed all the rules for business licenses that were in effect at the time they were issued, so it does not plan to revoke the licenses.
New York officials reviewed all of those cases and found that all of the recipients were allowed to be in the country when they obtained their licenses. The state made that clear to federal officials in January, so James said it’s unfair for the federal government to withhold funds the state relies on to help provide safe roads and bridges.
“By eliminating this funding, the federal government is putting jobs and communities at risk,” she said. “New Yorkers count on these investments, and we will not allow the president to jeopardize the safety of our communities.”
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said audits conducted by the first Trump administration confirmed that the state was following federal regulations.
“Once again, New York faces devastating federal cuts for no other purpose than political revenge,” Hochul said. “Stealing money intended to improve vital safety on our roads is reckless and illegal.”
In addition to trying to get unqualified drivers off the road, Duffy has led an effort to crack down on them Trucking schools are questionable And then go Trucking companies Which violate the rules then change their names and continue to work.
Even before that, the Trump administration announced last summer that it would begin enforcing existing rules requiring truck drivers to be able to Speak English efficiently. These language skills can be crucial during a traffic stop or after an accident to ensure truck drivers are able to communicate with authorities about what happened and whether they are transporting hazardous chemicals, Duffy said.
Trucking industry groups have praised the effort because they say too many unqualified drivers who should not have licenses have managed to get behind the wheel of an 80,000-pound (about 39,916 kilogram) truck. This puts the safety of everyone on the highways at risk and tends to reduce the amount drivers can earn if companies can hire cheap immigrant truck drivers and pay them less.
Trucking trade groups have long been pushing for more accountability in the system and stronger standards on who can start a trucking company. For many years, anyone willing to pay a fee of a few hundred dollars and show proof of insurance could start a trucking company.
Questionable operations may not be discovered until much later when the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has the opportunity to review them.
Immigrants represent about 20% of all truck drivers, but these non-domestic licenses that immigrants can obtain represent only about 5% of all commercial driver’s licenses, or about 200,000 drivers.
So migrant groups said they believed there were too many drivers Unfairly targeted. Sikh truck drivers have been in the spotlight because the driver in the Florida accident and the driver in the accident Another fatal accident In California in October they are both Sikh. Several groups have filed a lawsuit challenging California’s plan to revoke nearly 20,000 business licenses.
Last fall, Dt Proposed new emergency restrictions This would severely limit the ability of non-citizens to obtain a license, except in court Put the new rules on hold Because they were not subjected to all the normal review steps in drafting the rule.
So Duffy announced a new final rule last February that was properly vetted to tighten the restrictions under which immigrants can qualify for a business license.
The only immigrant drivers who can get a license under the new rules are H-2a, H-2b, or E-2 visa holders. The H-2a is for temporary agricultural workers while the H-2b is for temporary non-agricultural workers, and the E-2 is for people who make significant investments in U.S. businesses.