The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), led by Sean P. Duffy, announced on November 12, 2025 that the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) issued approximately 17,000 commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) to “non-domiciled” individuals who, according to the audit, did not meet federal residency or immigration-status requirements. transportation.gov+2CDLLife+2
The audit, conducted by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), found that in California one in four of sampled non-domiciled CDL records failed to comply with federal regulations. CDLLife+2Land Line Media+2 Some violations cited include: licenses issued beyond a foreign applicant’s valid work permit; and failure to verify domicile status or immigration eligibility under the mandate of 49 CFR 383.71(b)(9). Facebook+1
Under the DOT’s directive, holders of the 17,000 licenses have been notified that their licenses “no longer meet federal requirements” and will be revoked or expire within 60 days. CDLLife+1 Further, California has been instructed to submit a full audit of all its non-domiciled CDL issuance to the FMCSA for verification that all non-compliant licenses have been rescinded and root-cause failures addressed. Land Line Media
Additionally, the DOT has threatened to withhold up to $160 million in federal transportation funding from California if the state fails to comply with these directives. FreightWaves+2Yahoo+2 The background to this enforcement includes changes to federal rules that limit which non-citizens can qualify for CDLs: only holders of specific visa types (H-2A, H-2B, E-2) and with verification through federal immigration databases. AP News+1
On the state side, California officials (including the Gavin Newsom administration) argue they are in compliance with federal law and emphasize that California’s commercial driver crash rate remains near 40% lower than the national average. Land Line Media+1 Critics in the trucking-industry say that removing large numbers of drivers may disrupt freight operations and raise labor-costs, especially in hubs like the Port of Oakland, where immigrant drivers comprise a large share of the workforce. CBS News
In sum: this is a high-stakes confrontation between federal regulators and a major state over licensing, immigration verification, truck-driver workforce rules, safety oversight and federal funding.
