Immigrant truckers are taking legal action against California officials for plans to revoke their commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs), the news coming as the Democrat-controlled state faces heavy criticism after illegally issuing CDLs to foreign truck drivers.
The group of immigrant workers are suing California’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), the Associated Press (AP) reported Tuesday.
“California officials said last month that the state notified about 17,000 truckers that their commercial driver’s licenses would be revoked because the expiration dates went past when the drivers were legally allowed to be in the U.S. That number has since grown to 21,000,” the outlet said.
Now, the Sikh Coalition along with the Asian Law Caucus have filed a class-action lawsuit.
In a press release Tuesday, the Coalition said:
The suit challenges the CA-DMV’s unlawful cancellation of more than 20,000 non-domiciled commercial drivers’ licenses (CDLs) due to minor clerical discrepancies. It is a class action lawsuit brought on behalf of five CDL holders who have been deprived of their rights and livelihoods, as well as the Jakara Movement as an additional plaintiff.
Beginning in November, the CA-DMV began issuing notices that it was cancelling these CDLs belonging to drivers who had minor paperwork discrepancies, including mismatches between the expiration dates on their CDLs and their work permits. This action was taken as a result of pressure from the federal government; unfortunately, the CA-DMV has thus far failed to provide any recourse or means for drivers to correct these issues. By ejecting these drivers from the workforce without allowing for any sort of solution, the CA-DMV is discriminating against them on the basis of their immigration status.
Over 7,000 semi truck drivers were removed from America’s highways after Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Sean Duffy implemented English language proficiency rules, Breitbart News reported in October.
Duffy later revealed an audit showing California, under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) direction, illegally issued thousands of CDLs to foreign truck drivers.
The Breitbart News article continued:
Duffy said that the 17,000 foreign truck drivers who were issued CDLs by California have now been notified that their licenses do not meet federal requirements and will expire in 60 days.
Last week, in a sit-down interview with Breitbart News Washington Bureau Chief, Duffy called out Newsom for failing to follow the federal government’s English Language Proficiency standards that have been in place for decades.
As a result of Newsom’s failure to follow such CDL standards, DOT has withheld more than $40 million in federal funds from the state of California.
The outlet reported in early December that California was the number one hub for illegal CDL licensing.
Another recent report said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested 101 illegal alien truckers in California during Operation Highway Sentinel. Those arrested were from India, Mexico, Colombia, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Nicaragua, Russia, Georgia, Venezuela, El Salvador, and Honduras.
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