Minnesota must revoke illegally issued non-domiciled CDLs or lose $30 million in funding, USDOT says

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) warned that the state of Minnesota stands to lose millions in federal funding if it fails to revoke improperly issued non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs).

On December 1, 2025, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that Minnesota stands to lose $30.4 million in highway funding after a federal audit showed that “one third of Minnesota’s non-domiciled CDLs reviewed by Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) were issued illegally.”

In a December 1 letter to Governor Tim Walz, USDOT said that Minnesota acted improperly when it “issued non-domiciled CDLs that extend beyond the expiration of drivers’ lawful presence in the United States, issued non-domiciled CDLs to citizens of Mexico not present in the United States under the DACA program, issued non-domiciled CDLs to lawful permanent residents who should have been issued regular CDLs, and issued non-domiciled CDLs without providing evidence that it verified the driver’s lawful presence in the United States.”

USDOT gave Minnesota a 30 day deadline to take the following steps in order to avoid loss of funding:

• 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

“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. That abuse stops now under the Trump Administration. The Department will withhold funding if Minnesota continues this reckless behavior that puts non-citizens gaming the system ahead of the safety of Americans.”

“Minnesota is openly and blatantly defying our rules, plain and simple,” said FMCSA Administrator Derek D. Barrs. “Under the Trump Administration, states have two choices: meet our standards or face the consequences. Following the law is not optional.” 

Since the summer of 2025, FMCSA has been at work on a nationwide audit of state CDL issuance practices.

USDOT has threatened to withhold funding from other states including Pennsylvania and California for allegedly improper CDL issuance.