Transportation Secretary gives state 30 days to revoke noncompliant licenses or face funding penalties
President Donald Trump’s transportation secretary Sean P. Duffy issued a bombshell report Thursday night accusing California of violating federal law by issuing a commercial driver’s license to a foreign asylum seeker whose semi-truck crash killed three people earlier this week.
The report alleges that Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration ignored a federal order to halt noncompliant licenses and revoke improperly issued credentials, a failure that, according to Duffy, cost “three innocent souls.”
Federal regulators uncovered flaws in how California licenses certain commercial truck drivers. The 2025 Annual Program Review and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) concluded that the state’s commercial driver’s license (CDL) system suffered from “systemic policy, procedural, and programming errors” when it came to handling non-domiciled licenses.
In an audit letter dated Sept. 26, 2025, investigators also discovered that California had issued CDLs to non-domiciled drivers that were valid even after their federal work authorization expired.
That same day, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) issued an emergency interim final rule that tightened standards for non-domiciled CDLs nationwide. In the rule, stipulations changed and limited eligibility to applicants holding certain employment-based visas. It requires every state to verify their legal status through the SAVE (Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements) database.
California also allegedly violated federal law by upgrading the non-domiciled commercial driver’s license (CDL) of the Indian national tied to the fatal crash, Jashanpreet Singh, despite a federal emergency rule and compliance notice issued Sept. 26.
“My prayers are with the families of the victims of this tragedy. It would have never happened if Gavin Newsom had followed our new rules. California broke the law and now three people are dead and two are hospitalized. These people deserve justice. There will be consequences,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy.
California issued the CDL to Singh on June 27, according to federal records. A Department of Transportation audit on Sept. 26 flagged “significant compliance failures” in the state’s licensing process, yet on Oct. 15, officials reportedly upgraded the driver’s license despite federal restrictions.
Under the new rule, any non-domiciled commercial learner’s permit or CDL must expire no later than the end date on the driver’s federal immigration record or after one year, whichever comes first. It also maintains that states must keep proof of their lawful presence on file for at least two years.
The FMCSA review revealed that this was a widespread problem. In California alone, more than one-fourth of all sampled non-domiciled CDLs were issued incorrectly, including drivers who were ineligible, whose legal presence had lapsed, or whose license expiration dates didn’t match their immigration documents.
This resulted in the DOT ordering California to halt all new non-domiciled CDL issuances, review existing licenses for compliance and either revoke or reissue them if they didn’t meet federal standards. The state was told they had 30 days to comply or risk losing up to $160 million in federal highway funding.
Just six days later, on Oct. 21, the license holder was behind the wheel of a semi-truck involved in a fatal freeway crash that killed three people.
The Department of Transportation has given California 30 days to identify and revoke all noncompliant licenses or risk federal funding penalties.
Duffy framed the issue as part of a larger national safety crisis and even noted that multiple fatal crashes had been involved with drivers holding improperly issued non-domiciled CDLs.
The California DMV did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
