Indians in US: Indian truckers caught in wrong lane, California cancels 17,000 licences

The American state of California is set to revoke 17,000 commercial drivers’ licences issued to foreigners after the Donald Trump administration raised concerns that some may have been improperly granted to illegal migrants. The development follows a nationwide commercial driving licence audit launched after an illegal Indian migrant driver made a U-turn and caused a crash in Florida, killing three people in August.

Though the state has not provided a breakdown of the affected immigrant drivers, the move is most likely to affect Indian and Indian-origin truck drivers. The Indian-Sikh community in the US, including in California, has jumped in to fill the shortage of truck drivers in the last decade, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times from 2019.

California Governor Gavin Newsom on Wednesday said that licences were invalid because their expiration dates extended beyond the drivers’ authorised stay in the US.

The licences were revoked because state officials discovered the expiration dates of the licences went past when the drivers were legally allowed to be in the United States, news agency AP reported, citing California’s State Transportation Agency.

A deadly crash in California last month involving another Indian illegal immigrant truck driver that killed three people, added to the concerns, the report said. The matter of alleged illegal drivers behind the truck wheels in California had triggered a massive row in the US, involving the Trump-led Federal Government and the state administration in California, led by the Democrats.

US TRANSPORT SECRETARY SLAMS CALIFORNIA, WITHHOLDS FEDERAL FUNDS

US Secretary of Transportation Sean P Duffy rejected California’s governor’s claim of expiry of the stay permits, saying the state’s decision to revoke them showed the state mishandled its process, despite earlier defending it.

“After weeks of claiming they did nothing wrong, Gavin Newsom and California have been caught red-handed. Now that we’ve exposed their lies, 17,000 illegally issued trucking licences are being revoked,” Duffy said in a statement.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg. My team will continue to force California to prove they have removed every illegal immigrant from behind the wheel of semi-trucks and school buses,” he added.

However, both the Democratic governor’s office and the Republican Trump administration’s Transportation Department agreed that these licences violated the existing standards that were in place before Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy tightened the rules following the Florida crash, according to news agency AP.

Earlier in the month, the US Transportation Secretary said over 7,000 US truck drivers were placed out of service in 2025 for failing English proficiency tests.

Duffy also revoked $40 million in federal funding because he said California wasn’t enforcing English language requirements for truckers. He added that he would take another $160 million from the state over these improperly issued licences if they didn’t invalidate every illegal licence and address all the concerns, AP reported.

NEW RULES IN US FOR COMMERCIAL DRIVING LICENCES

The new commercial driving licence rules announced by Duffy in September make it difficult for immigrants, as only three visa types qualify. States must verify immigration status in a federal database, and licences are valid for up to one year or until the visa expires.

Under the new rules, only 10,000 of the 200,000 non-citizens who have commercial licences would qualify for them, which would only be available to drivers who have an H-2a, H-2b, or E-2 visa, according to the AP report.

H-2a is for temporary agricultural workers, while H-2b is for temporary non-agricultural workers, and E-2 is for people who make substantial investments in a US business.

The new rules won’t affect current drivers, who can keep their licences until renewal.

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