Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz appeared perplexed as Republican Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry pressed him on illegal immigrants getting commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) in his state during a Wednesday hearing.
Walz signed the “Driver’s Licenses for All” act in 2023, which enabled illegal immigrants in Minnesota to get driver’s licenses. Perry played a video of a trucker with a Minnesota CDL driving in the wrong direction on a Missouri highway during a House Oversight Committee hearing, accusing Walz of endangering residents of other states through the law he signed.
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“What are you going to do to rectify the law that you signed that allows people here illegally to get a CDL?” Perry asked. “That tape was in Missouri, not your state … If you don’t want to protect the people in your state, I guess that’s your business and the business of your voters. But that driver was driving in Missouri. And if he’d have hit a bunch of people, quite honestly, to me, you could’ve been held liable.”
“[F]irst of all, Minnesota ranks in the top three safest states by highway data from your own departments,” Walz said. “The data from the Department of Transportation for highway safety … We want everybody on our roads to be licensed.”
Perry asked Walz if he was “okay” with the Missouri incident. Walz said he was not, but pivoted to express his disapproval of speeding and driving under the influence.
“But you signed this law that allows for that! You signed it!” Perry said. “And you’re going to do nothing about it?”
“I can’t speak to the specifics on the CDL,” Walz said.
Perry said the Minnesota law prevented federal enforcement of illegal immigrants getting CDLs.
“Driver safety and immigration are two separate things,” Walz claimed. “Anybody, had that been a citizen or not, it’s still tragic, it’s wrong and we shouldn’t do it. What I’m telling you is in Minnesota, we have the third safest roads in the country.”
“So you’re good with this practice?” Perry asked.
Walz again said he was not.
“Well, what are you good with? Because that’s what’s happening under your law!” Perry said.
Walz repeated that he was unaware of the specifics. After he said the incident was “wrong,” Perry cast doubt on whether Walz would “do anything” about it.
“He was licensed in your state under your law that you signed about a year and a half ago!” Perry said.
“Every day we give licenses and people speed. So we ticket them and try and stop that,” Walz said. “What I’m telling you is I don’t understand the connection between —”
Perry asserted the Minnesota trucker was an illegal immigrant who could not read.
Investigators said the trucker had a valid CDL from Minnesota and failed a roadside inspection as well as an English proficiency test, according to CBS Minnesota. While the outlet requested information from the Department of Homeland Security about the trucker’s immigration status, it did not get a response.
“[H]e got a license under your provisions,” Perry said. “And he’s driving all across the country imperiling everybody else! That’s the connection.”
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