California delays yanking 17,000 commercial driver's licenses

A week aft immigrant groups filed a lawsuit, California said Tuesday it volition hold the revocations of 17,000 commercialized driver's licenses until March to let much clip to guarantee that truckers and autobus drivers who legally suffice for the licenses tin support them.

But U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the authorities whitethorn suffer $160 cardinal if it doesn't conscionable a Jan. 5 deadline to revoke the licenses. He already withheld $40 cardinal successful national backing because, helium said, California isn't enforcing English proficiency requirements for truckers.

California lone sent retired notices to invalidate the licenses aft Duffy pressured the authorities to marque definite immigrants who are successful the state illegally aren't granted the licenses. An audit recovered problems similar licenses that remained valid agelong aft an immigrant's authorization to beryllium successful the state expired oregon licenses wherever the authorities couldn't beryllium it checked a driver's migration status.

"California does NOT person an 'extension' to support breaking the instrumentality and putting Americans astatine hazard connected the roads," Duffy posted connected the societal level X.

The Transportation Department has been prioritizing the contented ever since a truck operator who was not authorized to beryllium successful the U.S. made an amerciable U-turn and caused a clang successful Florida that killed 3 radical successful August.

California officials said they're moving to marque definite the national Transportation Department is satisfied with the reforms they've enactment successful place. The authorities had planned to resume issuing commercialized driver's licenses successful mid-December, but the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration blocked that.

"Commercial drivers are an important portion of our system - our proviso chains don't move, and our communities don't enactment connected without them," said DMV Director Steve Gordon.

The Sikh Coalition, a nationalist radical defending the civilian rights of Sikhs, and the San Francisco-based Asian Law Caucus filed a class-action suit connected behalf of the California drivers. They said migrant motortruck drivers were being unfairly targeted. The operator successful the Florida clang and the operator successful different fatal clang successful California successful October are some Sikhs.

Immigrants relationship for astir 20% of each motortruck drivers, but the non-domiciled licenses immigrants tin person lone correspond astir 5% of each commercialized driver's licenses, oregon astir 200,000 drivers. The Transportation Department besides projected caller restrictions that would severely bounds which noncitizens could get a license, but a tribunal enactment the caller rules connected hold.

Mumeeth Kaur, the ineligible manager of the Sikh Coalition, said this hold "is an important measurement towards alleviating the contiguous menace that these drivers are facing to their lives and livelihoods."

Duffy antecedently threatened to withhold millions of dollars successful national backing from California, Pennsylvania and Minnesota aft audits recovered important problems nether the existing rules similar commercialized licenses being valid agelong aft an migrant motortruck driver's enactment licence expired. He dropped the menace to withhold $160 cardinal from California aft the authorities said it would revoke the licenses due to the fact that the authorities was complying.

Trucking commercialized groups person praised the effort to get unqualified drivers who shouldn't person licenses oregon can't talk English disconnected the road. They besides applauded the Transportation Department's moves to spell aft questionable commercialized driver's licence schools.

And portion the national authorities says the licenses are amerciable and the authorities says the feds are overreaching, immoderate radical successful the trucking manufacture accidental they're the ones caught successful the middle, reports CBS News Sacramento.