Minnesota is the latest state to be targeted by the federal government for how it issues non-domiciled commercial driver's licenses.
On Monday Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced that one third of Minnesota’s non-domiciled CDLs reviewed by Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration were issued illegally.
Duffy said Minnesota has 30 days to come into compliance and revoke the illegally issued licenses or risk losing up to $30.4 million in federal highway funding.
“Our audit exposes yet another example of foreigners taking advantage of Minnesota services under Governor Walz’s watch,” said Duffy. “Minnesota failed to follow the law and illegally doled out trucking licenses to unsafe, unqualified non-citizens, endangering American families on the road."
Minnesota joins several other states that have received notices. California was the first state to be singled out for how it issues CDLs to non-domiciled drivers. Duffy sent similar letters to Pennsylvania, Colorado, Texas, and South Dakota.
In a letter sent to Gov. Tim Walz and Minnesota Department of Public Safety Commissioner Bob Jacobson, FMCSA outlined the audit’s findings of the state non-domiciled CDLs to:
- Drivers whose licenses were valid after their lawful presence in the U.S. expired
- Drivers who were prohibited from holding a non-domiciled commercial CDL
- Drivers without Minnesota first verifying the individual’s lawful presence in the U.S
The DOT is now demanding that Minnesota:
- Pause issuance of non-domiciled CDLs
- Identify all unexpired non-domiciled CDLs that fail to comply with FMCSA regulations
- Revoke and reissue all noncompliant non-domiciled CDLs if they comply with the federal requirements
- Conduct a comprehensive internal audit to identify all procedural and programming errors, training and quality assurance problems, insufficient policies and practices, and other issues that have resulted in the issuance of non-domiciled CDLs that did not meet Federal rules
The DOT's statement said the department will continue its nationwide audit of state CDL issuance practices to restore safety to American roadways and integrity to the CDL program.
In June, Duffy announced a nationwide audit of states issuing non-domiciled CDLs.
In late September, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration issued an emergency interim final rule that immediately restricted eligibility for non-domiciled CDLs, citing fatal crashes and widespread state compliance failures as justification for bypassing normal rule-making procedures.
The rule limits non-domiciled CDL eligibility to foreign nationals holding H-2A agricultural worker visas, H-2B temporary non-agricultural worker visas, or E-2 treaty investor visas. Employment Authorization Documents alone will no longer qualify applicants for the specialized licenses under the new rule.
However, in response to a lawsuit brought on behalf of two drivers, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued an administrative stay on the FMCSA''s interim final rule.
