The drivers say the DMV wrongly canceled their commercial driver’s licenses, putting their jobs and income at serious risk. The problem started on November 6. On that day, the California DMV sent letters to about 17,000 drivers. The letters said their licenses could be cancelled in 60 days. Later, the number of affected drivers increased to more than 20,000, according to Times Now.
License cancellation issue
The cancellations happened after a federal audit found that some licenses had expiry dates that went beyond how long drivers were legally allowed to stay in the U.S. The lawsuit says these were clerical or paperwork errors, not cases of fraud, unsafe driving, or criminal behavior, according to CNBC. The case was filed by the Sikh Coalition and the Asian Law Caucus on behalf of five drivers, seeking class-action status for all affected drivers.
The lawsuit argues that under California law, the DMV must fix its own mistakes or allow drivers to reapply with correct documents. Instead of fixing the errors, the DMV canceled licenses outright, the lawsuit claims. The groups say the DMV stopped issuing or renewing non-resident commercial licenses, leaving drivers unable to work, according to Times Now.
Drivers were left with no clear timeline, no income, and no clear way to correct the issue, as stated in the lawsuit and reported by CNBC.“The state of California must help these 20,000 drivers because, at the end of the day, the clerical errors threatening their livelihoods are of the CA-DMV’s own making,” Munmeeth Kaur, legal director of the Sikh Coalition, said in a statement.
Federal pressure and safety review
The issue gained national attention after a fatal crash in Florida earlier this year involving a Punjabi Sikh driver, which killed three people. After that crash, the Trump administration reviewed trucking license rules across the country. California and six other states were flagged for having looser licensing standards, as reported by Times Now.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy accused California of issuing licenses to drivers his department considers unqualified, according to NBC reports. Punjabi Sikh immigrants form a large part of the U.S. trucking workforce, with about 150,000 drivers nationwide, many based on the West Coast. The Los Angeles Times reported that these rule changes could push more than 400,000 drivers out of the trucking market over the next three years, citing JB Hunt.The lawsuit asks the court to pause the cancellations and force the DMV to create a way for drivers to fix errors or reapply, according to CNBC. If the court does not stop the cancellations, the lawsuit warns the damage to drivers’ lives and jobs could become permanent before the case is decided.
FAQs
Q1. Why did California cancel truck drivers’ licenses?
California DMV canceled licenses after a federal audit found expiry date errors linked to immigration paperwork.
Q2. What are immigrant truck drivers asking the court to do?
They want the court to stop cancellations and force the DMV to allow license correction or reapplication.