US DOT Rule Puts 200,000 Truck Licenses at Risk as States Fight Revocations

2 articles · Updated · The Guardian · May 26

Nearly 200,000 commercial licenses are at risk after a DOT rule that took effect in March barred many foreign-born truck drivers from getting or renewing CDLs.
The rule limits eligibility to immigrants with specific work-authorized statuses, excluding many asylum seekers, refugees and Daca recipients and leaving tens of thousands unable to keep driving.
Sean Duffy defended the change on safety grounds, citing five fatal crashes involving immigrant truck drivers, but those cases were 0.31% of large-truck fatal accidents in the first half of 2025.
Federal lawsuits are pending, and Democratic-led states including New York have resisted revoking licenses, drawing DOT threats to withhold transportation funding.
Critics including the AFL-CIO say the administration has not shown immigrant CDL holders are a distinct safety risk and argue the policy targets legally authorized drivers while worsening labor strains in trucking.

If banned drivers have lower crash rates, how does the new federal rule make America's highways safer?

With nearly 200,000 truckers sidelined by a new rule, are consumer prices about to rise?