Restrictions on non-domiciled CDLs cannot be enforced right now, DC court rules

A DC court has ruled that the recent restrictions on nondomiciled CDLs cannot be enforced as of Thursday. 

The court in the District of Columbia ruled Thursday, November 13th that the Department of Transportation’s new restrictions on CDLs for noncitizen truck drivers cannot be enforced as of now.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced the restrictions in September, preventing truck drivers who are not citizens or permanent residents, but are otherwise in the country legally, from obtaining or renewing their commercial driver’s licenses. The announcement came after the now infamous fatal u-turn crash in Florida. 

The DC court ruled that the federal government did not follow proper procedures in drafting the new rule, and did not “articulate a satisfactory explanation for how the rule would promote safety,” reported CBS. The court cited data from the FMCSA showing that immigrants with CDLs are a mere 5% of the country’s CDL holders, and only about .2% of all fatal crashes. 

This ruling prevents restrictions that would have allowed only  H-2a, H-2b or E-2 visa holders to obtain or renew CDLs, along with immigrants granted citizenship or considered permanent residents. The nondomiciled restrictions would have left only 10,000 of the 200,000 noncitizen CDL holders as qualified to hold their CDL.