Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy continued his assault on states for their handling of non-domiciled commercial driver's licenses.
His latest target: Colorado. The threat is the same as it has been for other states: the loss of millions of dollars worth of federal funds.
Late Monday, the DOT issued a statement that said Duffy, "blasted the State of Colorado for slow walking a purge of illegally issued truck licenses." If Colorado does not immediately pull non-domiciled licenses and come into compliance with federal regulations, the state will lose $24 million in federal highway funds. The DOT said it also has the option to decertify Colorado’s CDL program entirely.
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“Colorado doesn’t get to pick and choose what federal rules it follows – especially when the driving public is at risk,” said Duffy. “It’s been nearly two months since Colorado admitted that they knowingly broke the law and gave Mexican nationals trucking licenses. Colorado has two options: revoke the licenses immediately, or I will pull federal funding. Every day that goes by is another day unqualified, unvetted foreign truckers are jeopardizing the safety of you and your family.”
This October, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration nationwide audit uncovered about 22% of Colorado non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses were issued illegally, according to Monday's statement. The DOT said many of those licenses were given to Mexican nationals, which is explicitly prohibited under federal regulations.
When pressed, Colorado admitted that these violations were not accidental, but the result of a 2016 statewide policy decision to disregard federal law and give trucking licenses to ineligible Mexican citizens, said the DOT.
The state has also allowed non-domiciled CDL expiration dates to exceed the drivers' lawful presence documents, effectively allowing individuals to drive trucks on American roadways long after their legal status to remain in the country had expired, according to the DOT.
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Despite receiving the notice of non-compliance, the DOT Monday said Colorado officials have failed to produce a completed audit or a full accounting of the illegal licenses. The agency also said the state is still unable to account for how many unqualified drivers are currently on the road, nor have they completed the necessary actions to revoke these credentials.
"This continued delay signals a lack of urgency that puts public safety at risk," the DOT statement said.
Colorado is not the only state to incur Duffy's wrath over the issue of non-domiciled CDLSs. Other states facing the same threat of a funding loss include:
- California, the first state Duffy threatened
- New York, which Duffy called the "worst offender"
- Pennsylvania
- Minnesota
- Washington
- Texas
With the exception of Texas, all of these states have Democrat governors who have clashed with Duffy's boss, President Donald Trump.
Also, California, New York, Minnesota, Washington and Colorado all voted for Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
The federal government's emphasis on non-domiciled CLD holders could remove as many as 194,000 truckers from the industry. The focus on foreign drivers comes after several fatal tractor-trailer accidents involved foreign-born truckers.
The DOT's push to revoke the CDLs of the vast majority of foreign-born drivers has been put on hold for the time being because a federal judge agreed to consider a lawsuit on behalf of two drivers who would lose their CDLs.
