In the middle of last month, and in response to a sudden rash of horrific and fatal semi-truck accidents found to have been caused by illegal aliens with commercial drivers' licenses (CDL), the Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, announced he was immediately imposing a radical measure in an attempt to get these dangerous, often non-English speaking hazards off American highways.
Calling the current use of non-domiciled CDLs a “national emergency” and a “threat to public safety,” the U.S. Department of Transportation plans to drastically reduce eligibility.
The new system will make non-citizens ineligible for a non-domiciled CDL unless they meet stricter requirements, including an employment-based visa and a federal immigration status check.
During a news conference on Friday, Sept. 26, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the changes are in response to a recent series of fatal crashes caused by non-domiciled drivers.
“We have a government system designed to keep families on the road safe, but that system has been compromised,” Duffy said. “I’m talking about non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses that are issued across the country. In plain English, this is a license to operate a massive 80,000-pound truck that is being issued to foreign drivers who are not U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents. The process for issuing these licenses is absolutely 100% broken. It has become a threat to public safety, and it is a national emergency that requires action right now.”
He was shutting down the blue states' ability to issue CDLs to all comers.
- Limits individuals eligible for non-domiciled CLPs and CDLs to those maintaining lawful immigration status in certain employment-based nonimmigrant categories, certain individuals domiciled in a U.S. territory and individuals domiciled in a state that is prohibited from issuing CLPs or CDLs because the state’s CDL program is decertified
- Requires non-citizen applicants (except for lawful permanent residents) to provide an unexpired foreign passport and an unexpired arrival/departure record indicating one of the specified employment-based nonimmigrant categories at every issuance, transfer, renewal and upgrade action
- Requires state driver’s licensing agencies to query the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements System to verify the accuracy and legitimacy of provided documents and information
- Requires the state agencies to retain copies of the application documents for at least two years
- Requires the expiration date for any non-domiciled CLP or CDL to match the expiration date of the arrival/departure record or to expire in one year, whichever is sooner
- Requires the applicant to be present in person at each renewal
- Requires the state agency to downgrade the non-domiciled CLP or CDL if the state becomes aware that the person is no longer eligible
Democrats contorted and abused the original purpose of non-domiciled CDLs, which are for AMERICAN TRUCKERS, not illegals!
— USDOT Rapid Response (@USDOTRapid) October 26, 2025
California illegally issued 60,000 of these licenses to foreign drivers and @SecDuffy is putting a stop to it! pic.twitter.com/fW2ee3A1js
This update of regulations would have rendered nearly 190,000 non-citizens' licenses invalid. That number alone tells you the size of the problem.
On the 10th of this month, a federal court ruled that Duffy's new rule could be 'administratively stayed,' effectively neutering the program before it even began while they looked into it.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Monday decided on a lawsuit seeking to block DOT’s emergency final rulemaking that sought to strip 200,000 non-citizens of non-domiciled CDLs.
The court ordered "that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s interim final rule" be "administratively stayed pending further order of the court."
The pause will "give the court sufficient opportunity to consider the emergency motions for stay pending review and should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits of those motions," the court's statement said. It’s unclear how long that will take.
The decision followed DOT’s September 29 emergency final rule tightening eligibility for non-citizens of the U.S. to get commercial driving privileges. DOT found widespread lapses in CDL issuance protocols around the country and cited five deadly crashes as well as unknowns around non-citizen applicants as motivation for the rule.
So blue states are, at the moment, free to continue what they've been doing, which is handing out CDLs to damn near anyone.
BREAKING: A senior official in the FL AG's office tells me initial results of their investigation into Harjinder Singh, the Indian illegal alien truck driver charged w/ killing 3 people in a crash in FL in August, reveal Singh failed his CDL test 10 times in a 2-month window… pic.twitter.com/pqM3n5QYZz
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) October 23, 2025
...in a 2-month window between 3/10/2023 and 5/5/2023 in the state of Washington.
Additionally, I'm told Singh also failed his air breaks knowledge test twice, and that the Washington company that provided Singh's behind the wheel CDL training attested he could speak English proficiently, when he couldn't.
The FL AG investigation is ongoing and I'm told there's more to come.
The FL AG’s office also sued California and Washington via SCOTUS last week, asking SCOTUS to prevent both states from issuing CDLs to illegal immigrants, and accusing both states of not complying with federal safety and immigration status requirements when issuing CDLs.
And when they get busted on it, as California did with the Indian truck driver who killed three people recently, they lie about it.
This rewriting of reality is beyond insane.
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) August 21, 2025
FACTS:
- California authorities DID NOT arrest the illegal truck driver. U.S. Marshals did.
- He received his work permit UNDER BIDEN after Trump DENIED IT.
- California gave him a CDL.
All Democrats do is lie. pic.twitter.com/HnaGmBdeeY
These states are fond of 'No Name Given' licenses - how about you or me try that, huh? California and New York are among the worst offenders.
BREAKING - In a massively disturbing revelation, it has been revealed that Democrat states such as New York and California are issuing CDLs to illegals as “no name given,” with Republican states like Oklahoma stating they have already apprehended over 125 illegals with such IDs. pic.twitter.com/bsgxqdimnY
— Right Angle News Network (@Rightanglenews) September 30, 2025
This is what the appeals court judge is permitting to continue.
However, there are supposed to be mechanisms to protect us from the 'no name givens' and the CDLs handed out like candy in bogus West Coast driving schools, right? What about that 'Real ID' thing? The one I had to jump through incredible hoops to get here in Florida, having been born out of the country and with a marriage certificate more than ten years old, to prove I was me.
Well.
Schmaybe we ought to be looking a little closer at, say, Pennsylvania for handing out what should be the Gold Standard to...Uzbeki terrorists?
Why does your photo conveniently cover up the fact that this is a REAL ID (see the gold star on the upper left of the uncovered DL ) pic.twitter.com/rbvFEuS7ZS
— Quis custodiet ipsos custodes (@BearsfordJohn) November 17, 2025
Hey! This is kind of...what? Concerning?
NOT IF YOU'RE A BLUE STATE DEM OR PROGRESSIVE JUDGE!
NEW: DHS confirms to @FoxNews that ICE has arrested an Uzbeki illegal alien wanted alleged terrorist who was driving an 18-wheeler in Kansas and had been given a CDL by the state of Pennsylvania. 31-year-old Akhror Bozorov has had an arrest warrant in Uzbekistan since 2022 for… pic.twitter.com/OVmVqO3kMi
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) November 17, 2025
...and had been given a CDL by the state of Pennsylvania. 31-year-old Akhror Bozorov has had an arrest warrant in Uzbekistan since 2022 for being a member of a terrorist organization and is accused of distributing terrorist propaganda, calling for jihad online, and recruiting terrorists.
Per DHS, he was caught and released at the border by the Biden administration in February 2023.
ICE arrested him on November 9th while he was working as a commercial truck driver. He was granted work authorization by the Biden administration in January 2024 and has a Commercial Driver’s License issued by the state of PA.
DHS statement to FOX via @TriciaOhio:
“Not only was Akhror Bozorov—a wanted terrorist—RELEASED into the country by the Biden administration, but he was he was also given a commercial driver’s license by Governor Shapiro’s Pennsylvania. This should go without saying, but terrorist illegal aliens should not be operating 18-wheelers on America’s highways. Biden and Mayorkas allowed countless terrorists to come into our country. President Trump and Secretary Noem unleashed ICE to target these national security threats.”
Houston, I think we have a problem.
Yrs ago when So Dak implemented real ID I had an envelope full of docs I had to show. The guy in the line next to me only had to show his green card. Many ppl questioned that and we're told that he had to show the docs to get his green card. BS. 1/2...
— Shari (@BeaudetteShari) November 17, 2025
When Florida switched to the Real ID requirement, I wasn't worried. I had all this stuff. Everything they asked for on the list, I had - or thought I did until I walked into the office that day. Holy mother of God.
I spent three whole weeks in limbo as basically a person without a country even though I had an expired passport in my maiden name (expired for too long), a marriage certificate from the clerk of the court in Orange County (been married longer than ten years so it didn't count), mimeographed but U.S. embassy in Tokyo authenticated, registered, and stamped Birth of a Child of American Citizens Overseas form (would not accept a copy even with the official endorsements), and all my old FL licenses with my married last name.
Nope.
God bless the Social Security office here for expediting things. I had to get an unsealed copy of my high school transcripts sent down from my high school in New Jersey. Then our Social Security office got the ball rolling to issue a new SS card in my married name (I had never changed it with them). That single thing alone allowed me to finally get my driver's license renewed in Florida.
Unfrickin' believable.
But Uzbeki terrorists can just wave faux POTATUS green cards in Pennsylvania and get it all done, huh?
Good to know.
Blue states ruin everything.
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