North Carolina Could Lose $50M Over Non-Domiciled CDLs
State Says DMV Is Working to Address Issues
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North Carolina could lose nearly if the state doesn't revoke commercial driver licenses from immigrants who aren't qualified to hold them after an audit uncovered problems, the U.S. Transportation Department said Jan. 8.
North Carolina is the ninth state to be targeted since Transportation Secretary Sean ٳܴڴڲlaunched the nationwide reviewlast year to make sure only qualified drivers hold licenses to drive semitrailer trucks or buses.
The issue started to generate headlines after a truck driver who was not authorized to be in the U.S. made an illegal U-turn and caused a crash in Floridathat killed three peoplein August.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration reviewed 50 CDLs that North Carolina had issued to immigrants in its audit and found problems with more than half of them. That's what prompted the threat to withhold funding if the state doesn't clean up its licensing program. Records show that 924 of these kind of licenses remain unexpired in North Carolina.
The results of and ’s audit on North Carolina’s non-domiciled CDL program are the worst in the nation. Democrat leadership allowed a culture of negligence and lax oversight to take root, directly endangering our NC families and businesses.
It’s time to restore… — Rep. David Rouzer (@RepDavidRouzer)
“North Carolina’s failure to follow the rules isn’t just shameful — it’s dangerous," Duffy said.
North Carolina DMV spokesman Marty Homan said the state is working to address the concerns and remains “committed to upholding safety and integrity in our licensing processes.”
Duffy haspulled nearly $200 millionfrom California over concerns about that state's licensing practices and its decision to delay the revocations of more than 17,000 invalid licenses. Duffy also said that California isn’t enforcing English proficiency requirements for truckers.
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He also previouslythreatened to withhold millionsof dollars in federal funding fromPennsylvania,Minnesota,New York,Texas, South Dakota, Colorado, and Washington after audits found significant problems under the existing rules, including CDLs being valid long after an immigrant truck driver’s work permit expired.
Separately, Tennessee announced Jan. 8 that it launched its own review of CDLs and will be notifying about 8,800 of the state's 150,000 CDL holders that they need to provide proof of citizenship or a valid visa if they want to keep their licenses.
Russell Shoup, who is assistant commissioner of Tennessee's Driver Services Division, said the state is working to make sure all the licenses the state has issued meet current state and federal standards.
The federal crackdown on CDLs has been praised by trucking groups. The industry said that too often unqualified drivers who shouldn’t have licenses orcan’t speak Englishhave been allowed to get behind the wheel of an 80,000-pound truck. They have also applauded the Transportation Department’s moves to go afterquestionable CDL schools.
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But immigrant groups say that some drivers are now beingunfairly targeted.The spotlight has been on Sikh truckers because the driver in the Florida crash and the driver inanother fatal crashin California in October are both Sikhs. So the Sikh Coalition, a national group defending the civil rights of Sikhs, and the San Francisco-based Asian Law Caucusfiled a class-action lawsuitagainst California over that state's plan to revoke thousands of licenses.
Immigrants account for about 20% of all truck drivers, but these non-domiciled licenses immigrants can receive only represent about 5% of all commercial driver’s licenses or about 200,000 drivers. The Transportation Department alsoproposed new restrictionsthat would severely limit which noncitizens could get a license, but a courtput the new rules on hold.
