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OAN Staff Cory Hawkins and Sophia Flores
9:45 PM – Friday, December 12, 2025
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has warned New York to stop granting trucking licenses to illegal aliens or risk losing $73 million in highway aid.
During a press conference on Friday, Duffy reported that a U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) review found New York is the state most likely to violate federal law when issuing “non-domiciled” commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs).
“What New York does is if an applicant comes in and they have a work authorization — for 30 days, 60 days, one year — New York automatically issues them an eight-year commercial driver’s license,” Duffy said during the press conference. “That’s contrary to the law.”
“But we also found that New York many times won’t even verify whether they have a work authorization, they have a visa, or they’re in the country legally,” he added. “So they’re just giving eight-year commercial driver’s licenses to people who are coming through their DMV and sending them out on American roadways — and again they’re endangering the lives of American families.”
This conference came after the DOT, along with the Federal Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), launched a nationwide audit of states issuing CDLs.
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New York is one of several states that have been specifically named and ordered to take corrective action, most recently being identified as having the highest non-compliance rate in the audit sample.
Of the 32,000 New York CDLs used across the U.S., a random FMCSA check of 200 records found that 107 violated federal law.
“When more than half of the licenses reviewed were issued illegally, it isn’t just a mistake—it is a dereliction of duty by state leadership,” Duffy said. “If they refuse to follow the law, we will withhold federal highway funding.”
“You don’t just drive in New York if you get a New York commercial driver’s license — you drive around the country,” Duffy stressed.
The DOT officials have also launched a probe to investigate whether a Chinese national accused of causing a fatal pileup on a Tennessee highway was illegally issued a New York State driver’s license.
Duffy is giving New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D-N.Y.) and her officials 30 days to revoke all illegal CDL’s and pause any new licenses or learner’s permits from being issued. They must conduct their own comprehensive audit or face their funding being pulled.
The transportation secretary has threatened to withhold millions from California, Pennsylvania, and Minnesota after the audits found a plethora of problems under the existing rules like commercial licenses being valid after an immigrant truck driver’s work permit expired. California has recently revoked 17,000 licenses.
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