Feds pause California’s plan to reissue 17,000 revoked CDLs held by immigrant drivers
The Federal government has instructed California to pause its plans to reissue 17,000 commercial driver’s licenses held by immigrant truck drivers.
Last week, the California DMV announced plans to reissue CDLs to immigrant drivers previously given a cancellation notice amidst the government crackdown on CDL regulations. California planned to reissue these licenses with updated, more accurate expiration dates on December 16th. Now, information indicating that the federal government has instructed California to pause these plans has been reported by KQED.
As of Monday morning, December 22nd, no statements regarding the situation have been released by USDOT, FMCSA, Secretary Duffy, or any other transportation-related agency within the federal government.
“Given we are in compliance with federal regulations and state law, this delay by the federal government not only hurts our trucking industry, but it also leaves eligible drivers in the cold without any resolution during this holiday season.,” said Eva Spiegel, Deputy Director of the Office of Public Affairs at the California DMV.
“We are hopeful the federal government will do the right thing and allow California to reissue these commercial driver’s licenses promptly. Commercial drivers are an important part of our economy — our supply chains don’t move and our communities don’t stay connected without them.”
“[The California] DMV stands ready to resume issuing commercial driver’s licenses, including corrected licenses to eligible drivers,” she added.
“There’s absolutely no legitimate reason why the federal government stepped in and said, ‘hold off.’ And it’s really disappointing for folks right before the holiday who thought their license issues were going to be fixed. And now it’s kind of left in the world of the unknown,” said Shane Gusman, legislative director for Teamsters California.
The 17,000 CDLs are currently scheduled to be officially revoked on Monday, January 5th, 2026.