California Halts Plan to Revoke 17,000 Truck Licences After Immigrant Drivers Take Legal Action

California has delayed plans to revoke around 17,000 commercial driver’s licences after immigrant rights groups launched urgent legal action, forcing the state to pause enforcement until March next year.

The move comes just a week after a class action lawsuit was filed by the Sikh Coalition and the Asian Law Caucus, who argue that immigrant truck and bus drivers are being unfairly targeted under new federal pressure to tighten licensing rules.

The revocations were triggered after US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy urged states to crack down on licences issued to immigrants who are not legally authorised to work in the country.

The US Department of Transportation intensified its focus following a fatal crash in Florida in August, where a truck driver without legal authorisation allegedly made an illegal U turn, killing three people.

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California officials say the delay is meant to ensure that drivers who legally qualify are not wrongly stripped of their livelihoods. The state’s Department of Motor Vehicles acknowledged that commercial drivers remain vital to the economy, with supply chains and public transport relying heavily on skilled operators.

Immigrants make up roughly 20 percent of truck drivers in the United States. However, so called non domiciled commercial licences issued to non citizens account for only about five percent of all CDLs, or roughly 200,000 drivers nationwide. Proposed new federal restrictions on these licences have also been temporarily blocked by the courts.

Civil rights groups argue that recent enforcement actions risk painting entire communities with the same brush. Both the Florida crash driver and another driver involved in a fatal California collision in October were Sikhs, which advocacy groups say has contributed to unfair profiling.

At the same time, US trucking trade bodies have welcomed tougher oversight, saying unsafe and unqualified drivers, especially those unable to communicate in English, pose a serious risk on public roads. They have also supported federal action against questionable CDL driving schools.