Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Sean Duffy on Friday threatened to withhold tens of millions in federal taxpayer highway funds for New York and other blue states that issue commercial driverâs licenses (CDLs) to illegal immigrants.
Duffy said in a Wednesday press conference that among blue states allowing foreign nationals to receive CDLs, including California, New York is the âworst offender,â according to a nationwide audit his department conducted. The transportation secretary had announced on Sept. 26 that the DOT would be cracking down on non-domiciled CDLs, which states issue to non-citizens.
âWe will pull every dollar possible from every single state thatâs unwilling to work with this administration and these longstanding rules to make sure that when American family gets in a car, they shouldnât be worried that they have an unqualified foreigner operating an 80,000 pound big rig that could endanger their lives ⌠or an unqualified driver operating a motor coach,â Duffy said at the press conference.
â of New Yorkâs non-domiciled CDLs were issued unlawfully or illegally,â Duffy added. âNow, what New York does is, if an applicant comes in and they have a work authorization for 30 days, 60 days, one year, New York automatically issues them an eight-year commercial driverâs license, thatâs contrary to the law.â
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âBut we also found that New York many times wonât even verify whether they have a work authorization, they have a visa, or theyâre in the country legally,â he continued. âSo, theyâre just giving eight-year commercial driverâs licenses to people who are coming through their DMV and sending them out on American roadways, and again, theyâre endangering the lives of American families.â
âWhen more than half of the licenses reviewed were issued illegally, it isnât just a mistake â it is a dereliction of duty by state leadership,â Duffy said in a Friday press release. â Gov. Hochul must immediately revoke these illegally issued licenses. If they refuse to follow the law, we will withhold federal highway funding.â
Hochulâs office did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundationâs request for comment.
âNew York must act immediately to comprehensively audit its CDL program and revoke every single illegally issued licenses,â Derek D. Barrs, Administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), added in the same press release.
The release specified that the state âhas 30 days to respond to FMCSAâs enforcement action.â FMCSA is an agency within the DOT.
âIâm going to give New York 30 days, because thatâs what the law requires to come into compliance with the rules that have been long standing at the Department of Transportation,â Duffy also said at the press conference. âIf they come into compliance, weâre going to work with them. If New York refuses to come into compliance, because Kathy Hochul, for some reason, believes that we should have unqualified truck drivers on American roadways. We are going to pull tens of millions of dollars.â
Duffy specified that the DOTâs mission is not to have conflict with New York, California or other blue states but instead to âget compliance, to make sure we have safe commercial drivers on American roadways and Americans are safe.â
âIf weâre going to have drivers on American roadways, they need to be the best trained, the best skills, because if operated incorrectly or inappropriately, these are lethal weapons on American roadways,â the secretary said during the press conference.
California had issued a CDL to Jashanpreet Singh, an illegal immigrant truck driver accused of killing three people in a multi-vehicle crash, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Daily Caller White House correspondent Reagan Reese on Oct. 23.
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