Commercial trucks can be seen in the lane towards the Ambassador Bridge to Windsor, Ontario, in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., February 1, 2025. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook/File Photo

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Transportation Department said Friday it was issuing an emergency regulation to drastically restrict commercial driver licenses to non-U.S. citizens after a fatal crash in Florida and a government audit.

Non-citizens will not be eligible for a truck-driving license unless they meet new stricter rules, including an employment-based visa, and undergo a mandatory federal immigration status check.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is also launching an enforcement action against California, requiring it to pause issuing some commercial driver licenses to non-U.S. citizens. Duffy said "licenses to operate a massive, 80,000-pound truck are being issued to dangerous foreign drivers – often times illegally."

A spokesperson for California Governor said the state's commercial driver's license holders "had a fatal crash rate nearly 40% LOWER than the national average. Texas — the only state with more commercial holders — has a rate almost 50% higher than California."

In August, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States was immediately pausing the issuance of all worker visas for commercial truck drivers. While that action cut off new visas for non-citizens, the latest order clamps down on who already within the country can get a commercial driver license.

California has 30 days to comply or the Trump administration will withhold federal highway funds, starting with nearly $160 million in the first year and then doubling. Duffy said more than 25% of commercial licenses approved for non-U.S. citizens by California were improperly issued.

This is the latest in a series of clashes between the Trump administration and California over federal transportation funding.

"The combination of a catastrophic failure of states to follow the law and a broken system has created an imminent hazard to American travelers," Duffy said, citing a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration audit.

Duffy said the audit showed drivers whose licenses were valid long after their lawful presence in the U.S. expired. Duffy also said Colorado, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas and Washington were identified as states with licensing not consistent with federal regulations. The audit has not yet been released.

Last month, Duffy warned USDOT will withhold federal funding from California, Washington state and New Mexico unless they adopt English proficiency requirements for commercial truck drivers.

Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association President Todd Spencer praised the action to crack down on the issuance of commercial licenses to non-residents. "Loopholes in this program have allowed unqualified drivers onto America’s highways, creating unnecessary safety risks for professional drivers and the motoring public alike," Spencer said.

Some groups have estimated the United States has a shortage of up to 80,000 truck drivers.

The federal probe was prompted by a fatal Florida crash involving an Indian national truck driver who did not speak English or have legal authorization to be in the United States, according to Florida and U.S. officials. He received a license from California.

While the English-proficiency standard for truckers was already longstanding U.S. law, Trump's executive order in April reversed 2016 guidance that inspectors should not place commercial drivers out of service if their only violation was lack of English.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said in 2023 that about 16% of U.S. truck drivers were born outside the United States.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Lisa Shumaker)