Transportation Department tightens noncitizen truck driver rules after fatal crash in Florida

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The Transportation Department tightened commercial driver's license requirements for noncitizens Friday after three fatal crashes this year that officials say were caused by immigrant truck drivers.

The new rules make getting commercial driver's licenses extremely hard for immigrants because only three specific classes of visa holders will be eligible. States will also have to verify an applicant's immigration status in a federal database. These licenses will be valid for up to one year unless the applicant's visa expires sooner than that.

A nationwide commercial driver’s license audit began after officials say a driver in the country illegally made a U-turn and caused a crash in Florida that killed three people. Fatal truck crashes in Texas and Alabama earlier this year also highlight questions about these licenses.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy also threatened to revoke $160 million in federal funding for California because the state should never have issued 25% of 145 licenses that investigators reviewed.

He cited four California licenses that remained valid after the driver's work permit expired — sometimes years after. That state has 30 days to come up with a plan to comply or lose funding.

Duffy said the rules weren't strict enough and some states weren't following them. The audit found licenses that were issued improperly in California, Colorado, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas and Washington.

“We have a government system designed to keep American families on the road safe. But that system has been compromised,” Duffy said.

Previously, Duffy threatened to pull some federal funding from California, Washington and New Mexico for failing to enforce English proficiency requirements for truckers that went into effect this summer. The Transportation Department is still reviewing the responses from those states. He has questioned whether the Florida truck driver understands English, but a video of a traffic stop that New Mexico officials released showed him communicating with an officer.

California has defended its practices and a spokesperson for Gov. Gavin Newsom dismissed Duffy's latest attack.

“Former D-list reality star, now Secretary of Transportation, still doesn’t understand federal law. We’ll respond to today’s letter in due course," spokeswoman Diana Crofts-Pelayo said.

She said that commercial driver's license holders from California have a significantly lower rate of crashes than both the national average and the Texas average, which is the only state with more licensed commercial drivers.

All states must pause issuing commercial driver's licenses to noncitizens until they can comply with the new rules.

Under the new rules, only 10,000 of the 200,000 noncitizens who have commercial licenses would qualify for them, which would only be available to drivers who have an H-2a, H-2b or E-2 visa. But the rules won’t be enforced retroactively, so those 190,000 drivers will be allowed to keep their commercial licenses at least until they come up for renewal.

Duffy said that even with a reported shortage of truck drivers, he doesn’t think the new rules will cause a problem because these licenses represent only about 5% of all commercial driver's licenses.

Removing noncitizen drivers from the industry could force trucking companies to increase wages for entry-level operators and draw more job seekers, said Jonathan Marques, founder of the Driving Academy in Linden, New Jersey.

The American Trucking Association and the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association had pushed for an audit in the spring and praised the Transportation Department's efforts.

“Rules only work when they are consistently enforced, and it’s imperative that all state driver licensing agencies comply with federal regulations," ATA President and CEO Chris Spear said.

Loopholes for unqualified drivers have created unnecessary safety risks on highways, said Todd Spencer, who leads the independent drivers group. “These enforcement actions will also remove bad actors from the road and restore accountability to the system,” he said.

The Florida crash drew outrage from President Donald Trump and Duffy and inspired a political fight between the governors of Florida and California. It also put Sikh truck drivers in the crossfire because the truck driver is a member of that faith.

The driver in Texas failed to brake and crashed into a line of cars in March, causing a 17-car pileup that killed five people. Duffy said the driver, who was not a U.S. citizen, had a history of unsafe lane changes, ignoring traffic signs and violating service rules. The Transportation Department said that driver was qualified to receive a commercial license for noncitizens but was issued one for citizens.

The Alabama crash involved a driver on his third day on the job who Duffy said had failed a skills test for speeding. The driver, who was not a U.S. citizen, struck four vehicles stopped at a red light, killing two people. That driver did have a valid employment authorization, but he failed to submit other required paperwork verifying his immigration status, so the Transportation Department said he shouldn't have received a license.

On Aug. 12, Harjinder Singh made an illegal turn on Florida’s Turnpike, the highway patrol said. A minivan crashed into the truck’s trailer.

Two passengers in the minivan died and the driver died at a hospital. Singh and his passenger were not injured.

Singh lived in California but Washington issued his original commercial license before he got one in California. The fallout fueled a verbal tussle between California Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Trump administration.

Singh faces arraignment Monday on charges of vehicular homicide and manslaughter, according to court records in St. Lucie County, Florida. The federal government has asked for him to be transferred to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody over immigration violations after his criminal case is complete.

Singh's attorney, Natalie Knight-Tai, declined to comment immediately on the case.

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Associated Press Writer Jeff Martin in Atlanta, Tran Nguyen in Sacramento, California, and John Seewer, in Toledo, Ohio, contributed.