California Delays Plan to Reissue Commercial Licenses, Drivers Mired in Uncertainty

California has paused its plan to resume issuing contested commercial driver’s licenses under pressure from the Trump administration, according to state transportation officials, leaving thousands of immigrant truck and bus drivers uncertain if they can keep their jobs.

The delay is the latest twist in a monthslong dispute between California and the federal government over non-domiciled commercial drivers’ licenses for noncitizens who are authorized to work but lack permanent residency (or a green card).

At stake is more than $150 million in federal highway funding that the U.S. Department of Transportation threatened to withhold from California unless the state fixes problems with its non-domiciled CDL program, including licenses that expired at a later date than the driver’s work permit.

After a state review found more than 20,000 licenses had incorrect expiration dates, due to Department of Motor Vehicles clerical errors, the agency sent those drivers 60-day cancellation notices. The licenses of most of these drivers, 17,000, are now set to be rescinded on Jan. 5. Many of them are Sikh truckers, with roots in Punjab, India, who said they have valid work permits and the revocations threaten their livelihoods and families.

“People are going to lose out. Most of these guys have homes, families, businesses,” said Rajinder Singh Tanda, president at Global Truck Permits near Stockton, who has heard from many concerned truckers who could lose their license. “This will be a disaster in California.”

For weeks, several unions and other driver advocates pushed the state to allow eligible drivers to renew their licenses. This week, the DMV said it planned to begin reissuing these documents on Dec. 17, as the agency believed it met all conditions to fix earlier problems. But the federal government notified the DMV on Dec. 16 that it may not issue these licenses yet.

“DMV stands ready to resume issuing commercial driver’s licenses, including corrected licenses to eligible drivers,” Eva Spiegel, Deputy Director of the Office of Public Affairs at the DMV, said in a statement. “Given we are in compliance with federal regulations and state law, this delay by the federal government not only hurts our trucking industry, but it also leaves eligible drivers in the cold without any resolution during this holiday season.”

“We are hopeful the federal government will do the right thing and allow California to reissue these commercial driver’s licenses promptly,” Spiegel added. “Commercial drivers are an important part of our economy — our supply chains don’t move and our communities don’t stay connected without them.”

The U.S. Department of Transportation did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The department’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has been reviewing whether the state is complying with federal guidelines. In a Nov. 13 letter to Steve Gordon, California DMV director, the agency warned it could penalize the state by withholding not just funding but also its authority to issue all commercial drivers’ licenses.

About 700,000 drivers have commercial licenses in California to operate large vehicles such as school buses, garbage trucks and big rigs, according to the DMV.

The back and forth comes as the Trump administration tried to exclude most asylum seekers, refugees and other immigrants from holding non-domiciled CDLs through an interim rule it issued in September. The emergency regulation, announced by U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, aimed to improve safety on the roads after a series of deadly crashes involving immigrant truck drivers in Florida and other states. Trucking industry experts, however, doubted that any reliable evidence links safe driving to immigration status.

A federal court in Washington, DC put that regulation on hold on Nov. 10, which meant the 20,000 immigrant drivers with cancellation notices in California could be eligible again to renew licenses. But now those drivers will have to wait longer for a resolution, even though the state’s program is in compliance, said Shane Gusman, legislative director for Teamsters California.

“We’re very disappointed,” said Gusman, whose union represents truck drivers who could lose their jobs. “There’s absolutely no legitimate reason why the federal government stepped in and said, ‘hold off.’ And it’s really disappointing for folks right before the holiday who thought their license issues were going to be fixed. And now it’s kind of left in the world of the unknown.”

Bhupinder Kaur, director of operations for United Sikhs, said the nonprofit organization is encouraging hundreds of impacted drivers, including through a WhatsApp chat group, to stay hopeful.

“We always strive to fight for what is right,” Kaur said. “United Sikhs will continue fighting for the right of these drivers to pursue their life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.”