Newsom’s California Exposed: #1 Hub for Illegal CDL Licensing — Safety Crisis Ignites Federal Fury

California has been caught red‑handed, leading the nation in unlawfully issuing commercial driver’s licenses to foreign nationals, with federal regulators blasting Governor Gavin Newsom’s administration for putting politics above public safety and fueling deadly crashes on America’s highways.

California has become ground zero in America’s trucking scandal, with Governor Gavin Newsom’s administration accused of rubber‑stamping thousands of illegal commercial driver’s licenses for foreign nationals in defiance of federal law. A blistering Department of Transportation audit revealed that one in four of the state’s non‑domiciled CDLs were issued improperly, with some valid until 2030 despite immigration documents expiring years earlier. Federal regulators say reckless licensing practices have already contributed to deadly crashes, and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is now threatening to withhold hundreds of millions in highway funds from California unless Newsom reverses course.

Following an October crash near Los Angeles that left three people dead, allegedly at the hands of a California non-domiciled CDL driver, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy issued a scathing report about the dangers of Governor Newsom’s policy of ignoring federal law.

“It would have never happened if Gavin Newsom had followed our new rules,” Duffy wrote in the report. “California broke the law and now three people are dead and two are hospitalized. These people deserve justice. There will be consequences.”

Reports indicate that California leads the nation in non-domiciled CDL licensees, with approximately 60,000 being issued. Overdrive.com reports that 25 percent of these are improperly licensed. Many of these licenses expire well past the expiration of the driver’s immigration status.

On September 1, Breitbart Texas reported that Texas led the nation, by a large percentage, of commercial driver’s license holders receiving “out of service” orders for not being proficient in reading and speaking English. Governor Abbott’s spokesman, Andrew Mahaleris, responded to an inquiry from Breitbart, saying, “Governor Abbott expects trucking companies in Texas to fully comply with President Trump’s Executive Order. Public safety is priority #1, and we must ensure that truckers are able to navigate Texas roadways safely and efficiently.”

Since then, Texas has launched a crackdown on these truck drivers. Texas has dropped to fifth place, behind California, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Florida.

“While liberal states like California issue licenses to illegal immigrants and risk the lives of Americans, Texas will work with our federal partners to maintain safe roads and apprehend illegal immigrants to protect our communities,” Governor Abbott said in a recent statement.

The DOT issued the following facts regarding the consequences of California’s continued non-compliance with federal regulations:

• une 27, 2025: California issued Jashanpreet Singh, a 20-year-old asylum seeker, a restricted, non-domiciled CDL.
  • The license includes a “K restriction,” limiting the driver to intrastate (in-state) operation
• September 26, 2025: Secretary Duffy formally notifies California of “significant compliance failures” after an audit revealed one in four non-domiciled CDLs sampled were issued improperly. California was required to:
  • Pause issuance of non-domiciled CDLs
  • Identify all unexpired non-domiciled CDLs that fail to comply with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) regulations
  • Revoke and reissue all noncompliant non-domiciled CDLs if they comply with the new federal requirements
• September 26, 2025: FMCSA issues an emergency rule to significantly strengthen standards for the issuance of non-domiciled CDLs.
  • Under the emergency rule, non-citizens are not eligible for a non-domiciled CDL unless they meet a much stricter set of rules, including possessing an employment-based visa and undergoing a mandatory federal immigration status check using the SAVE system
  • Specifically, the new rule prevents all asylum seekers from obtaining non-domiciled CDLs
  • States are now required to apply the stricter standards to all issuances, renewals, transfers, or upgrades of a non-domiciled CDL
• October 15, 2025: Singh turns 21. California’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) removes the “K restriction” and upgrades Singh’s driving privileges.
  • This removal was an “upgrade” under federal regulations. However, California processed the upgrade to Singh’s non-domiciled CDL without applying the stricter standards as required by the emergency rule.
• October 21, 2025: Singh was operating a semi-truck under the influence of drugs on a California freeway when he struck a queue of stopped vehicles and fatally injured three people.
• If California had complied with the Secretary’s emergency rule and prevented the upgrade of Singh’s driving privileges, Singh would have been required to return to the DMV (on or after October 15) to have the ‘K’ restriction removed and upgrade his CDL.
  • At that time, Singh would have been subject to the emergency rule and found ineligible to retain the non-domiciled CDL due to Singh’s status as an asylum seeker.
• Gavin Newsom was explicitly warned California’s CDL program was dangerously broken. The USDOT’s emergency rule was issued to explicitly prevent drivers like Singh from getting behind the wheel of commercial motor vehicles.

Deadly crashes continue across the nation, where foreign drivers who are not proficient in English continue their carnage on our nation’s highways. This week, Breitbart Texas reported that a Tennessee truck driver was killed after a Chinese national with a New York-issued non-domiciled CDL crashed into his truck while allegedly watching videos on his cell phone.

“A Chinese national driving a motorcoach slammed into a vehicle in Tennessee, killing an individual and causing a major traffic jam this week,” Secretary Duffy wrote in a post on social media. “And to make matters worse: this driver had a non-domiciled CDL from NY and couldn’t speak English!”

“We have states that are giving out CDLs like candy… they have allowed people who should NEVER have a CDL… operating an 80,000 pound Big Rig on an American road,” Duffy said on Friday. “We are going to hold states accountable.”