Court Halts New Restrictions on Immigrant Driver’s Licenses Amid Safety Concerns

Fri Nov 14 2025 20:44:30 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

A federal appeals court has temporarily blocked the Transportation Department’s stringent rules on immigrant commercial driver’s licenses following safety data concerns. This court ruling comes after a tragic truck crash in Florida raised questions regarding licensing standards.

The Transportation Department's recent restrictions aimed at limiting commercial driver’s licenses for immigrants have been halted by a federal appeals court. The decision indicates that the government did not adequately justify the rules or demonstrate how they would enhance safety. In light of data indicating low fatal crash rates among licensed immigrants, the court's ruling reveals a need for comprehensive review of such policies, especially after a fatal crash linked to unauthorized licensing in Florida. The newly proposed rules would restrict eligibility to only a small number of noncitizens.

The Transportation Department's new restrictions that would severely limit which immigrants can get commercial driver’s licenses to drive a semitrailer truck or bus have been put on hold by a federal appeals court.

The court in the District of Columbia ruled Thursday that the rules announced by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy in September—promptly after a truck driver unauthorized to be in the U.S. caused a crash in Florida that killed three people—cannot be enforced at this time.

The court determined that the federal government failed to adhere to proper procedures in drafting the regulation and could not provide a satisfactory explanation of how the rules would enhance safety. The court indicated that data from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration illustrates that immigrants holding these licenses constitute approximately 5% of all commercial driver’s licenses, yet account for only around 0.2% of all fatal crashes.

Duffy has been addressing this issue primarily in California—where the driver responsible for the Florida incident obtained his license—following an audit revealing that numerous immigrants were issued licenses in that state even after their work permits had expired. California recently revoked 17,000 commercial driver’s licenses recently due to this issue.

Neither Duffy nor Governor Gavin Newsom responded immediately to inquiries on the ruling. Newsom’s office stated that the state had adhered to the guidelines issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security regarding issuing these licenses to noncitizens.

Notably, Duffy expressed concerns stemming from a recent string of fatal truck accidents involving drivers without legal status. The drivers’ inability to comply with current regulations has sparked a debate over the adequacy of existing licensing practices.

The proposed restrictions would only permit immigrants holding specific visa types to qualify for commercial driver’s licenses, requiring states to verify applicants' immigration status through federal databases. Under the new rules, merely a fraction—10,000 out of roughly 200,000 noncitizens—would qualify, with licenses only valid for up to one year contingent on visa status.

Trucking trade associations have shown support for these regulations, asserting that current loopholes threaten public safety. An additional congressional bill is in the pipeline, aimed to establish these restrictions into law.