Bruce Blakeman, a Republican running to unseat Governor Kathy Hochul, is blasting the Democrat for giving commercial truck driver’s licenses (CDLs) to illegals and “putting New Yorkers in danger” on the roads.
Blakeman pointed out that nearly half the CDLs Hochul has handed out have gone to illegal migrants, many of whom can’t read or speak English, the New York Post reported.
The GOP candidate also ripped Hochul for giving licenses to migrants who didn’t even provide their full names to the state. It has been reported that a number of these CDLs are listed as “No Name Given” in the spot where the driver’s name should be. Licenses have reportedly been doled out without verifying the legal status or addresses of the migrants, which conflicts with federal safety standards.
“Governor Hochul is knowingly putting New Yorkers in danger. She is handing out commercial licenses to people who should never be behind the wheel of an 80,000-pound truck, and the consequences have been deadly,” Blakeman said.
Hochul has countered the criticism by claiming that New York CDLs are issued based on federal standards. However, it is also true that New York has a separate law of its own that requires state authorities to hand out licenses to illegals.
The state law has overwritten the federal rules thanks to a liberal New York judge who in December upheld New York’s “Green Light” law allowing the state to give licenses to applicants without requiring any proof that they have legal status.
Blakeman added that two migrants who were given New York state CDLs have killed Americans on the roads in recent months.
In Indiana on November 14, an illegal migrant named Goderdzi Gujabidze, who got his license in Brooklyn, New York, killed 23-year-old Indiana National Guardsman Terry Frye in an accident on Interstate 65. And on December 8, New York CDL holder Yisong Huang killed a driver in Tennessee on I-40, Blakeman noted.
“Hochul’s policies create a system where individuals without the proper vetting and training — and even those with revoked licenses — can legally drive massive trucks through our communities. That is an unacceptable public safety failure,” Blakeman exclaimed.
“My administration will restore common sense and public safety,” he said. “For every CDL handed out to someone in the country illegally, we will give a CDL to a hard-working New Yorker who plays by the rules.”
The growing number of accidents have spurred Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and President Donald Trump to attempt to rescue the trucking industry, as illegal migrants flood the industry with illicitly gained CDLs.
Sec. Duffy, for instance, blasted Hochul for breaking federal laws with her slipshod licensing policies.
“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 a December press conference. “That’s contrary to the law.”
In April, Trump signed an executive order directing Duffy to “ensure drivers violating English proficiency rules are placed out-of-service, enhancing roadway safety.”
Duffy also threatened “to withhold millions in funds from California’s government for improperly allowing illegal and unauthorized migrants” to drive trucks.
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