Advocates Worry California Immigrant Truckers Still Face Uncertainty After License Debacle

Advocates for about 20,000 immigrants facing the cancellation of their commercial driver’s licenses due to an administrative error worried that a California judge’s recent ruling would not be enough to protect those impacted from financial harm and continued uncertainty.

Judge Karin Schwartz in Alameda County ordered the DMV on Tuesday to issue corrected licenses to eligible drivers within a reasonable timeframe, according to state law, even as the Trump administration threatened to punish California if it did so.

Impacted truckers, transit and municipal drivers — including many Indian Sikh asylum seekers who have valid federal work permits — could still lose driving privileges and income as the DMV, which plans to revoke the licenses on March 6, complies with the judge’s ruling with no set deadline.

“We are disappointed that the DMV has not been required to provide immediate relief,” said Deep Singh, executive director of the Jakara Movement, in a statement. The Fresno-based nonprofit sued the DMV in December, along with several drivers.

“We strongly urge the DMV to automatically correct these licenses without requiring impacted drivers to reapply, repay fees, or jump through additional bureaucratic hurdles,” he said. “The onus falls on the state to correct its own errors in order to prevent further harm to our immigrant communities.”

The DMV did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The agency argued in Alameda County Superior Court that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which oversees the state’s commercial licensing program, ordered it to stop issuing the contested cards until a compliance review is finished. FMCSA first uncovered clerical errors that produced licenses that expired after the holders’ work authorization.

Defying the federal government’s directive means California could lose funding and its authority to license hundreds of thousands more commercial drivers, state attorneys said. Transportation officials already penalized California by withholding $158 million for highway safety over the issue, a decision the state challenged in court.

Schwartz acknowledged the federal conflicts, but ruled the DMV must post on or before March 6 an update on its website alerting drivers that they can immediately reapply, and issue licenses to lawful applicants within a reasonable time.

“Petitioners have demonstrated that the manner in which their commercial drivers licenses (“CDLs”) were cancelled — without a right to challenge cancellation, to reapply, or to request a hearing — violated state law requirements,” Schwartz wrote.

The decision followed a new U.S. Department of Transportation rule published last month, which excludes an estimated 190,000 immigrants from holding commercial driver’s licenses, arguing it will improve public safety after a series of fatal highway collisions involving noncitizen truckers. Drivers and unions sued, aiming to block that regulation.

Before federal changes, states issued non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses to immigrants who passed knowledge and driving tests and presented valid federal work permits, but who did not have a green card.

In November, the DMV sent 17,300 non-domiciled commercial drivers 60-day cancellation letters that did not offer a way to challenge the revocations or submit updated work permit records. The agency later notified an additional 2,700 drivers that their licenses would also be canceled without recourse.

By mid-December, DMV officials said they had planned to start reissuing the contested licenses, but paused after the FMCSA said it may not do so yet. After public uproar, the DMV extended the revocation dates to March 6.