Thousands of immigrant truck drivers in California are fighting to save their jobs after the state suddenly moved to cancel their commercial driver’s licenses. The drivers have now filed a lawsuit against the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), saying the decision has put their livelihoods at risk and violates their basic rights, according to a report from the Los Angeles Times.
The lawsuit alleges the problem was created by the DMV itself, but the drivers are the ones paying the price.
Immigrant truck drivers take California DMV to court
On November 6, the California DMV rolled out 60-day cancellation notices to about 17,000 commercial truck drivers. The letters said their licenses would be terminated because the expiration dates went beyond the period they were legally allowed to stay in the United States.
The decision came after a federal audit flagged the licenses. Since then, the number of affected drivers has only grown. By November, more than 20,000 drivers had received cancellation notices. Later reports estimated the figure at around 21,000.
According to the drivers, this happened because of clerical mistakes by the DMV. According to California law, when such errors happen, the DMV is supposed to fix the expiration dates on its own or allow drivers to reapply for corrected licenses. Instead, the state chose to cancel them.
Legal groups step in to challenge the decision
The Sikh Coalition and the Asian Law Caucus have filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of five truck drivers, in order to represent thousands more across the state. They are asking the Alameda County Superior Court to pause the license cancellations.
Munmeeth Kaur, legal director of the Sikh Coalition, told AP, the situation could quickly turn into a disaster if the court does not step in. Kaur warned that thousands of families could lose their only source of income and that supply chains across the country could be disrupted. “These drivers have built their lives around this work,” Kaur said. “They are now facing economic ruin through no fault of their own.”
The Sikh Coalition says the DMV acted under pressure from the federal government. The Trump administration has been cracking down on states that issued commercial licenses to immigrants and has also threatened to withhold federal funds from states like California, New York, Pennsylvania and Minnesota.
The California DMV has told applicants it is no longer issuing or renewing non-resident commercial driver’s licenses. At the same time, it has offered no clear solution for drivers whose licenses are being cancelled.
Punjabi Sikh truckers in US
Punjabi Sikh truck drivers have become a backbone of the American trucking industry. Many sought asylum in the US and later entered trucking as a stable line of work. There are about 750,000 Punjabi Sikhs living in the United States. Around 150,000 of them work in trucking, according to AP.
The issue became highly political earlier this year after a deadly crash in Florida. A Punjabi Sikh truck driver who was not authorized to be in the US made an illegal U-turn on a turnpike, leading to a crash that killed three people.
Soon after, the Trump administration ordered a review of state licensing rules. Officials flagged seven states, including California, Washington and Texas, for having what they called lax standards. Another deadly truck crash in California in October, also involving a driver in the country illegally, added to the pressure.
