U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has pulled $73 million in highway grants from New York after state officials have refused to cancel commercial trucker driving licenses the state has given to illegal migrants.
Duffy sent a letter to Democrat New York Gov. Kathy Hochul warning her that an additional $147 million is also at risk of being terminated if Hochul does not cancel the commercial truckers licenses (CDLs) previously issued to migrants.
“I promised the American people I would hold any state leader accountable for failing to keep them safe from unvetted, unqualified foreign drivers. I’m delivering on that promise today by refusing to fund Governor Hochul’s dangerous, anti-American policies,” Duffy told the New York Post.
“My message to New York’s far left leadership is clear: families must be prioritized on American roads,” the USDOT secretary added.
The Transportation Secretary has spearheaded several campaigns to take illegal migrant truckers off American roads since taking over the USDOT.
Duffy explained that the withholding of the first $73 million in funding is because the state “refuses” to comply with his demands that all states stop allowing illegal migrants to gain CDLs.
New York has admitted to automatically approving CDLs with an eight-year renewal limit to applicants who are illegal and also even if they are foreign nationals with only short-term visas, the Post added. The state did end its practice of awarding licenses to illegals in February, but has still not cancelled the 32,000 licenses handed out to non-residents before that.
State officials claim that they are not obligated to cancel past licenses issued before Duffy’s directive to stop issuing CDLs to non-residents.
“New York’s continued refusal to fix these failures undermines that mission, and we will not allow federal dollars to support a system that falls short of the law,” said Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) Administrator Derek Barrs.
“FMCSA is deeply disappointed by DMV’s refusal to take the necessary corrective actions set forth in the Preliminary Determination,” the FMCSA letter states. “The withholding of Federal funds is the direct and necessary consequence of New York’s own actions and its demonstrated disregard for Federal safety standards.”
Hochul’s office blasted Duffy and insisted that he is engaging in a campaign to “attack blue states.”
“These charges are a baseless attempt to attack blue states, because as everyone knows New York simply follows federally-issued rules when issuing commercial drivers licenses, something that even the Trump Administration has acknowledged,” Hochul spokesperson Sean Butler told the paper.
“This continues a yearlong pattern of Secretary Duffy threatening to withhold money that keeps our roads, subways, and other infrastructure safe for New Yorkers. We will fight back, and once again we will win,” Butler added.
Duffy’s focus on migrant truckers comes after several fatal crashes that have taken the lives of a growing number of Americans caused by foreign truck drivers, many of whom do not speak or read English.
To name just a few of these incidents, in March, an 11-year-old boy was killed in Ohio after a migrant trucker caused a multi-vehicle wreck. A Tennessee man died in December after a migrant with a CDL issued in New York caused an accident. An Indiana man was also sent to the hospital in critical condition after an illegal alien driving a truck smashed into him. The latter incident was caused by another man driving on a CDL issued in New York.
In November, Duffy revealed that states throughout the country had “potentially illegally issued about 194,000” CDLs to foreign migrant truck drivers who “would not meet English language standards” set by the DOT.
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