On Nov. 12, 2025, the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) announced that the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) had unlawfully issued 17,000 non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) to immigrants, all of which are being revoked, according to the U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean P. Duffy.
The issue grabbed public attention in August when a tractor-trailer driver without authorized residency made an illegal U-turn, killing three people. Following the incident, the Department of Homeland Security’s claimed that California’s issuing of CDL to illegal immigrants has “killed Americans,” to which Newsom’s office responded with post on X, which mocked “Kosplay Kristi and Road Rules Duffy” for exaggerating the status of CDLs to portray it as more harmful than it actually is.
WIth their new statement, USDOT has accused Gavin Newsom and his office for making false claims about the gravity of the situation. Further, Secretary Duffy made a post on X saying that Newsom and California was “caught red-handed after weeks of claiming they did nothing wrong.” Further, he made a threat to pull $160 million in federal funds unless every single illegally issued CDL is revoked.
In return, Governor Newsom’s office made another post on X saying that “once again, the Sean ‘Road Rules’ Duffy fails to share the truth,” criticizing Duffy’s “sad and desperate attempt to please his ‘dear leader.’” The post then went into disproving the statement by USDOT, claiming that it was a number of other reasons that led to the revoking of 17,000 CDL none of which had anything to do with illegal residency.
Secretary Duffy responded by posting photos of CDLs issued by California set to expire way past the U.S. work authorization expiration date, implying that the licenses in fact were issued illegally.
This reflects a larger agenda of USDOT favoring American drivers over non-Americans as demonstrated earlier this year when secretary Duffy signed an order enforcing stronger English proficiency and removing any commercial truck operators failing to comply. According to Duffy, “America First means safety first” as he argues that “Americans are a lot safer on roads alongside truckers who can understand and interpret our traffic signs.”
According to CNN, Secretary Duffy claimed that California and five other states have illegally issued CDLs, but California is the only state in which Duffy has taken any measures against.
