US revokes 17,000 immigrant driver’s licenses

The administration in the US state of California has revoked the commercial driver's licenses of 17,000 immigrants. A recent audit found that the majority of these licenses were issued to people who were not legally allowed to be in the United States.

The US Department of Transportation said that California officials had illegally handed over these licenses to "dangerous alien drivers." The license holders were also told that their licenses would expire in 60 days.

The situation became even more heated after a truck driver killed three people in Florida last August. The US administration said that the man was not legally in the United States. Since then, the Trump administration has increased strict monitoring of illegal immigrants driving commercial trucks and buses.

However, California Governor Gavin Newsom described the decision as politically motivated. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said this was just the “tip of the iceberg,” and that they wanted to make sure no illegal immigrants were in the driver’s seat of a semi-truck or school bus. But Newsom’s office said all of those whose licenses were being revoked had valid federal work permits. The report said the licenses had incorrect expiration dates, which violated California law that states a license cannot exceed the length of a person’s legal stay in the United States.

Newsom’s spokesman Brandon Richards called it a “demonstrable lie” and accused Duffy of spreading misinformation for political purposes. Meanwhile, a month after the Florida crash, Duffy announced new rules that would make it harder for immigrants to get commercial driver’s licenses. Under the new rules, applicants must have their immigration status verified and licenses will be valid for a maximum of one year.

The Department of Transportation estimates that 97 percent of current “non-domiciled” drivers, or about 194,000 people, could leave the trucking industry in the next few years. Although the total number of commercial drivers in the United States is 3.8 million, the department says the economic impact will be limited. A federal appeals court has temporarily suspended the rule while a truck driver’s lawsuit against the new rules is pending. The Newsom administration says the new rules were not in effect when 17,000 licenses were issued.

Source: BBC