U.S. Transportation Department officials say California is going to revoke 17,000 commercial driver’s licenses that have expired.
The action follows the filing of criminal charges against an Indian immigrant who became a Stockton-based truck driver and was involved in a fatal accident in Florida.
Plans to invalidate licenses issued to immigrants that now have past-due expiration dates were confirmed Wednesday by state officials, the Associated Press reported.
Concerns about the status of commercial driver’s licenses of immigrants in the country illegally became an issue after the Stockton-based truck driver, Harjinder Singh, 28, was arrested in Florida after he allegedly made an illegal U-turn on a freeway. A minivan plowed into the trailer of the truck, and three people died. He has pleaded not guilty to vehicular manslaughter.
The case attracted nationwide attention after Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy blasted California — and cited the Singh case — and alleged the state was issuing commercial licenses to immigrants in the U.S. illegally. California’s AB 60 driver’s licenses are granted to people who can’t offer proof of legal residency in the U.S. but who meet the state’s Department of Motor Vehicle requirements. Applicants must be able to pass a knowledge-based test and an in-person driving exam.
Duffy said in news release Wednesday that California’s DMV has “admitted” illegally issuing the 17,000 licenses “to dangerous foreign drivers.”
He said California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has taken a leading role among Democrats in criticizing Trump administration policies, was “caught red handed” in illegally issuing the commercial licenses in question.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” Duffy said in his statement. “My team will continue to force California to prove they have removed every illegal immigrant from behind the wheel of semitrucks and school buses.”
Last month, the DOT announced it will withhold more than $40 million from California as penalty for failing to comply with English-language proficiency standards.
An online petition seeking leniency for Singh has collected support from more than 3.5 million people. Singh has obtained a commercial driver’s license in Washington before was one issued to him in California.
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