A coalition of advocacy groups has filed a lawsuit against the California Department of Motor Vehicles for revoking nearly 20,000 commercial driver's licenses issued to migrant truckers. The action follows federal pressure on the state to halt such issuances to undocumented immigrants amid safety concerns from fatal accidents. The suit argues that clerical errors by the DMV warrant corrections rather than cancellations.
Earlier this week, migrant truckers, represented by the Asian Law Caucus, Sikh Coalition, and law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, launched a legal challenge against the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). The lawsuit targets the cancellation of approximately 20,000 commercial driver's licenses (CDLs), which the state undertook under duress from the Trump administration.
The federal intervention stemmed from a series of deadly crashes linked to undocumented immigrant truckers holding such licenses. The U.S. Department of Transportation identified California as a leading violator in issuing CDLs to this group, issuing a threat to cut $160 million in funding unless changes were made. In response, California notified 17,000 drivers of a 60-day license revocation, citing expiration dates that outlasted their authorized U.S. stays, as reported by the Los Angeles Times.
Advocates contend that state law obliges the DMV to adjust expiration dates or permit reapplications for fixes when errors arise. They describe the revocations as stemming from the agency's own administrative mistakes. "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," stated Munmeeth Kaur, legal director of the Sikh Coalition. "If the court does not issue a stay, we will see a devastating wave of unemployment that harms individual families, as well as the destabilization of supply chains on which we all rely."
Kaur further emphasized the human cost: "These drivers have spent years anchoring their lives to these careers, only to now face potential economic ruin through no fault of their own—they deserve better, and California must do better."
Katherine Zhao, senior staff attorney at the Asian Law Caucus, echoed this sentiment: "Our state has a clear moral obligation and legal duty to protect workers who have done everything right." She added, "Without an immediate court-ordered stay, many drivers will lose their jobs through no fault of their own. At a moment when families should be spending time with loved ones, these workers are instead confronting financial devastation and the loss of livelihoods they have spent years building. We are asking the court to compel California to protect workers."
One incident highlighting the federal concerns involved Harjinder Singh, an Indian national with a California CDL, who allegedly caused a fatal crash on the Florida Turnpike in August by making an illegal U-turn, killing three people. Singh had failed his CDL exam 10 times in three months before obtaining licenses in Washington and California, and he also underperformed on an English proficiency test, correctly answering just 2 of 12 verbal questions and identifying 1 of 4 traffic signs.
