Federal government orders California DMV to cancel licenses for 13,000 immigrant truck drivers

The federal government has ordered the California Department of Motor Vehicles to cancel the licenses of nearly 13,000 immigrant truck drivers across the state, leaving them unable to work and raising concerns about the impact on California’s trucking industry.

The affected drivers include those with visas, refugee status, or asylum status who had obtained legal work authorization and commercial driver’s licenses, or CDLs. According to officials, the cancellations stem from mistakes the DMV made with expiration dates for thousands of licensed drivers. Those dates exceeded the time drivers were legally allowed to remain in the United States.

The DMV had planned to correct the error, but a federal court blocked that effort.

An organization representing some of the impacted drivers said the decision could have far-reaching consequences.

“Immigrant truck drivers who have been in the country lawfully, who have obtained legal work authorization, have earned their CDLs, and basically a state has just decided none of that counts,” Bhupinder Kaur of the Freedom Drivers Coalition said.

In a statement, DMV Director Steve Gordon said the federal administration is using its war on immigration to remove qualified, hardworking commercial drivers who meet language and safety rules from the workforce.

Some in the industry warn that the effects could be felt statewide.