Immigrant Drivers, the Trucking Industry, and You

California, the state that loves to claim its sanctuary status for illegal immigrants, plans to revoke 17,000 commercial driver’s licenses given to immigrants upon discovering such licenses went past the expiration date of being allowed to be in the U.S. The announcement follows criticism from the Trump administration about states granting licenses to people in the country illegally.

The issue received national attention earlier this year when a tractor-trailer driver, not authorized to be in the U.S., made an illegal U-turn causing a crash in Florida, killing three people. Fatal truck crashes in Texas and Alabama also added to questions about these licenses. A fiery California crash, which also killed three people, involved a truck driver in the country illegally.

Transportation, Secretary, Sean Duffy, stated that California’s action is an admission that the state previously acted improperly with its licensing standards. However, Newsom’s office claimed that every one of the drivers whose license is being revoked had valid work authorizations from the federal government. His office did eventually admit that California state law requires the licenses expire by the time a person’s legal status to be in the United State expires.

Duffy stated that California, as well as five other states, had improperly issued commercial driver’s licenses to noncitizens. California is the first state Duffy has taken action against due to it being the first one with a completed audit. I presume that to be because of its high population, which would theoretically address more licensing incidents. Reviews in the other states had been delayed by the government shutdown, which just recently ended.

Duffy revoked $40 million in federal funding stating California isn’t enforcing English language requirements for truckers. While most road signs are pretty much the same worldwide, there are always some signs that are text only. Hence, the language requirement. Duffy also threatened another $160 million in funding over the improperly issued licenses should the state fail to address said concerns. Revoking the licenses is part of the state’s effort to comply.

The most resent safety rules could eventually threaten a portion of the trucking industry. Under those rules, only 10,000 of the 200,000 noncitizens who presently have commercial licenses, would qualify for them. Only drivers with an H-2a, H-2b or E-2 visas would be eligible. The good news the remaining 190,000 drivers is that the rule won’t be enforced retroactively, probably due to ex post facto legalities. The bad news is that it’s only temporarily. Those drivers were given notices that their licenses will expire in 60 days. Perhaps it’s just me, but changed expiration times still appear to be a violation of ex post facto laws.

Like every other industry, there seems to be a shortage here, too. Presently, there are nearly 2.1 million commercial truck drivers. 190,000 non-citizen drivers is equivalent to 9% of the industry workforce. Road safety is a worthwhile concern, but cutting driver numbers could cause product shortages and higher prices at stores. While a possible option, driver-less fully autonomous 20-40 ton trucks just aren’t worthy of our full trust any time soon.

Source used: Associated Press