Calling it “Reckoning Day,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy threw the latest punch in the months-long fight between the DOT and California.
On Wednesday, Jan. 7, Duffy announced that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is withholding about $160 million from California for failing to cancel more than 17,000 non-domiciled CDLs that the agency has deemed to be illegal.
In addition to issuing a news release, Duffy also took to social media. In both instances, the DOT leader specifically called out California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
“It’s reckoning day for Gavin Newsom and California,” Duffy said. “Our demands were simple: follow the rules, revoke the unlawfully-issued licenses to dangerous foreign drivers, and fix the system so this never happens again. Gavin Newsom has failed to do so – putting the needs of illegal immigrants over the safety of the American people. While Gavin may not care about protecting you and your family on our roads, the Trump Administration does. We’re pulling this funding to ensure federal tax dollars don’t fund this charade.”
🚨It’s RECKONING DAY for Gavin Newsom 🚨
Our demands to California were simple:
➡️ Follow the rules
➡️ Revoke the unlawfully-issued licenses to dangerous foreign drivers
➡️ Fix the system so this never happens againGavin refused. So now I am pulling nearly $160 MILLION from… pic.twitter.com/j2ckDLlRdI
— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) January 7, 2026
FMCSA issued a final determination on Jan. 7, after California let the agency’s Jan. 5 deadline pass.
The agency will withhold nearly $160 million that the state would have received from the National Highway Performance Program and Surface Transportation Block Grant.
“Federal regulations are clear,” FMCSA Administrator Derek Barrs said. “States must correct safety deficiencies on a schedule mutually agreed upon by the agency, and California failed to meet its commitment to rescind these unlawfully-issued licenses by Jan. 5. We will not accept a corrective plan that knowingly leaves thousands of drivers holding noncompliant licenses behind the wheel of 80,000-pound trucks in open defiance of federal safety regulations.”
On Dec. 30, the California Department of Motor Vehicles announced that it was giving the holders of the 17,000 CDLs another 60 days “to find a solution that permits drivers to remain working.”
The announcement from the California DMV came about a week after the Sikh Coalition filed a class-action lawsuit that challenged scheduled cancellations of 17,000 CDLs on Jan. 5 and another 2,700 in mid-February. In the complaint against the California DMV, the Sikh Coalition called the cancellation “unlawful” and claimed that CDLs were being revoked over “minor paperwork discrepancies.”
The extension gave the initial 17,000 CDL holders until March 6.
However, Duffy immediately called out California and Newsom, saying the DOT had not agreed to any extension.
“Gavin Newsom is lying,” Duffy wrote on Dec. 30. “The deadline to revoke illegally issued, unvetted foreign trucker licenses is still January 5. California does NOT have an ‘extension’ to keep breaking the law and putting Americans at risk on the roads. Miss the deadline, Gavin, and the @USDOT will act – including cutting nearly $160 million in federal funding.”
Gavin Newsom is lying. The deadline to revoke illegally issued, unvetted foreign trucker licenses is still January 5.
California does NOT have an “extension” to keep breaking the law and putting Americans at risk on the roads.
Miss the deadline, Gavin, and the @USDOT will act —…
— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) December 31, 2025
The DOT has been working for months to pull back the non-domiciled CDL process in the United States.
In late September, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration issued an emergency interim final rule that would pull non-domiciled CDLs from nearly 200,000 individuals. The agency said the “broken” system allowed thousands of unqualified people to receive CDLs. However, a federal lawsuit has put the rule’s effective date on hold, and FMCSA is now reviewing thousands of comments before it unveils a final rule.
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association has been supportive of the DOT’s actions, saying that the industry has degraded the standards needed to require a CDL in the name of a mythical driver shortage. OOIDA said CDLs should be given only to applicants who are vetted, trained and skilled.
“The days of exploiting cheap labor on the basis of false ‘driver shortage’ claims are over,” OOIDA President Todd Spencer said. “OOIDA and truckers across America support the Trump administration’s actions to crack down on the issuance of non-domiciled CDLs. For too long, loopholes in this program have allowed unqualified drivers onto our highways, putting professional truckers and the motoring public at risk. Secretary Duffy and FMCSA Administrator Barrs are embracing policies that prioritize the needs of professional truckers and roadway safety.”
California has argued that its CDL holders are involved in fatal crashes at a rate “far below the national average.” LL
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