Trump Admin Threatens to ‘Pull’ $73M in NY Funds Over ‘Illegal’ Truck Licenses for Immigrants
President Donald Trump’s Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy threatened to strip New York of $73 million in federal highway funding, citing claims the state has been issuing commercial driver’s licenses to immigrants “illegally.”
Duffy warned on Friday that New York’s entire commercial driver’s licence (CDL) programme could face “total decertification” unless Governor Kathy Hochul (D) moves swiftly to revoke licences the administration says were unlawfully approved.
Speaking at a press conference, Duffy said: “As we’ve done this nationwide audit, we found the worst offender, which is the state of New York: 53% of New York’s non-domiciled CDLs were issued unlawfully or illegally.”
He continued: “What New York does is if an applicant comes in and they have a work authorization for 30 days, 60 days, one year, New York automatically issues them an eight-year commercial driver’s license. That’s contrary to the law. That’s one offense. We also found that New York many times won’t even verify whether they have a work authorization, a Visa, or they are in the country legally.”
“They are just giving eight-year commercial driver’s licenses to those coming through their DMV and sending them out on American roadways, and they are endangering the lives of American families,” he added.
Duffy warned that he would give Hochul 30 days to change the policy, threatening that if New York did not come into compliance by that time “we are going to pull tens of millions of dollars as phase one for the state of New York.”
New York officials have flatly rejected the accusations. In a comment to Axios, a spokesperson for the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles said: “Secretary Duffy is lying about New York State once again in a desperate attempt to distract from the failing, chaotic administration he represents.”
“Here is the truth: Commercial Drivers Licenses are regulated by the Federal Government, and New York State DMV has, and will continue to, comply with federal rules,” the spokesperson said, adding: “Every CDL we issue is subject to verification of an applicant’s lawful status through federally-issued documents reviewed in accordance with federal regulations.”
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