A federal appeals court in the United States has blocked the Donald Trump administration’s new restrictions that sought to target immigrants’ path to acquiring commercial driver’s licenses in the country. On Thursday (US time), a District of Columbia court ruled that directives Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy previously foregrounded on the matter couldn’t be enforced, at least for now.
Duffy’s rules, in turn, followed the contentious emergence of a fatal Florida crash. Further investigation into the incident that killed three people revealed that truck driver who made an illegal turn on a highway was Harjinder Singh. The case escalated on more controversial lines as the Indian-origin driver was found to have entered the US unlawfully from Mexico in 2018.
Just earlier this week, California revoked 17,000 commercial driver’s licenses as the probe surrounding immigrant-linked licenses deepened.
US court rules against Trump’s restrictions against commercial driver’s license for immigrants
The court cited the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s own data, which indicated that roughly just 5% of all commercial driver’s licenses were in the possession of immigrants. On top of that, only about 0.2% of all fatal crashes turned the blame on these foreign nationals.
Doing so, the federal appeals court red-flagged the federal government’s actions, saying that proper protocol was not followed while the drafting the rule. It also said, the officials failed to “articulate a satisfactory explanation for how the rule would promote safety.”
A Transportation Department spokesman has since responded: “his is not a ruling on the merits of the case. Secretary Duffy will continue working to keep unqualified, foreign drivers off American roads,” as per the Associated Press.
What were the new rules for commercial driver’s license issuance?
The restrictions tied to CDL stated that only immigrants falling in three specific visas classes would be eligible for them. Accordingly, these licenses would be made accessible to those with an H-2a (temporary agricultural workers), H-2b (temporary nonagricultural workers) or E-2 visa (those making significant investments in a US business).
Furthermore, the newly issued licenses, as per the Trump admin’s rules, would be valid for up to one year unless the person’s visa is set to expire soon. And so, verifying an applicant’s immigration status in a federal database became non-negotiable.
Indian truck drivers at the centre of fatal crashes in recent times
Harjinder Singh’s case earned a spotlight in US politics rhetoric this August, further fuelling a discord between the federal authorities and California Governor Gavin Newsom’s office. Homeland Security had previously disclosed that the Indian national obtained a commercial driver’s license in California despite his unlawful immigration history.
According to the National Immigration Law Centre, California and the District of Columbia are two of 19 states that issue licenses to people regardless of their immigration status.
While criticism fuelled by Harjinder Singh’s case hadn’t even cooled down, another such fatal crash came to light in October. Jashanpreet Singh, who was behind the wheel of a semitruck, was accused of being under the influence of drugs and causing an eight-vehicle crash in California. The accident claimed three lives in addition to injuring four other people.
In a major twist, however, toxicology reports, subsequently confirmed that the 21-year-old accused was not intoxicated at the time of the crash, as per the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office. DHS also divulged that even Jashanpreet–another Indian national–had come to the US illegally in 2022.
Sean Duffy vs Newsom
The transportation secretary has particularly intensified his debate with the California governor over the issue of commercial driver’s licenses in the wake of both these crashes. An audit of state records conducted in light of these accidents further showed that licenses being to immigrants in California were valid even after the individuals’ work permits expired.
Despite other states also being reported to have indulged in the improper issuance of CDLs, Duffy only came after California as it was the one state where the audit has been completed.
Countering any challenges raised by the Trump admin, Newsom’s office had previously argued that California didn’t stray away from guidance it got from the DHS over the issuances of licenses to noncitizens.
