DOT Exposes Illegal Truck Licenses, Threatens $50M NC Cut
Trump’s DOT is threatening to cut $50M from North Carolina after a federal audit found over half of the state’s immigrant truck licenses were issued illegally.
The Trump administration is moving to withhold nearly $50 million in federal transportation funding from North Carolina after a federal audit found the state illegally issued a majority of its non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses, putting public safety and federal compliance on a collision course.
According to a Department of Transportation briefing released Thursday, federal inspectors determined that 54 percent of North Carolina’s reviewed non-domiciled CDLs were issued in violation of federal law, triggering a formal ultimatum from Washington.
“North Carolina’s failure to follow the rules isn’t just shameful – it’s dangerous. I’m calling on state leadership to immediately remove these dangerous drivers from our roads and clean up their system,” Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy said. “President Trump and I are committed to keeping you and your family safe on our roads.”
The audit, conducted by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), found that the state issued commercial licenses to foreign drivers whose lawful presence had expired, to applicants who were never eligible to receive non-domiciled CDLs, and in some cases without verifying legal status at all. Federal officials warned that unless the state revokes the illegally issued licenses and halts further non-compliant issuances, funding will be cut.
In a letter sent to Governor Josh Stein and Public Safety Commissioner Paul Tine, federal regulators laid out a corrective roadmap that includes immediately pausing new non-domiciled CDLs, identifying all unlawful licenses still active, and revoking or reissuing them only if they fully meet federal standards.
“The level of noncompliance in North Carolina is egregious,” FMCSA Administrator Derek D. Barrs said, warning that states will not be allowed to leave unqualified drivers operating heavy commercial vehicles.
Local reporting confirmed the stakes. Charlotte-based WSOC-TV reported that North Carolina has 30 days to submit a compliance plan or risk losing the federal funds, with trucking groups praising the enforcement action as overdue.
“For too long, loopholes in this program have allowed unqualified drivers onto America’s highways, creating unnecessary safety risks,” said Todd Spencer, president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association.
The issue is not isolated. Federal officials noted that North Carolina is the latest state flagged in a nationwide audit launched after President Trump issued an executive order targeting truck driver safety and lax licensing practices. Similar enforcement threats have already been leveled against states, including California and Pennsylvania, with funding restored only after license revocations were carried out.
Fox affiliate MyFox8 reported that the audit and enforcement push follows a series of deadly truck crashes involving improperly licensed drivers, underscoring why the administration has taken a zero-tolerance approach.
“If North Carolina does not fix their serious failures and revoke all illegally issued licenses, the Department will withhold nearly $50 million in federal funding,” the DOT said bluntly.
For North Carolina officials, the message is clear: revoke the licenses, fix the system, or pay the price.
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Comments
Don’t just defund. Pull their ability to issue commercial driver’s licenses
Good idea
CDL holders follow federal laws and hours of service rules. There is no reason a state should be issuing a license allowing the holder to engage in interstate commerce.
Fire them. Get them off the government payroll.
I’d modify that a bit.
Step 1. Cut funding
Step 2. Invalidate that State’s CDL outside the State. They could still drive within the State so minimizes law fare arguments by making it about interstate commerce and public safety. The insurance companies and the shipping companies would likely drop sketchy CDL.
Step 3. Restrict the use of that State’s regular DL (even Star ID) for Federal purposes getting a passport, TSA, every Federal agency, department, program application.
Parallel to all this the Feds should be investigating how these CDL were issued, who signed off on the ‘training’ what deficiencies in the State process allowed such lax oversight. If there are crimes including malfeasance then convene grand jury. Increase the pressure incrementally is likely to have better results and get to a better outcome more quickly b/c it declaws some of the law fare arguments and doesn’t give a lay up to a sympathetic Judge to block or delay.
It’s well past time to make examples of government drones who make these hideously dangerous decisions.
Find a federal statute that fits, indict, prosecute and imprison. Don’t be nice about it. Give a few of them twenty years and half million dollar fines.
Pretty soon, others in similar positions will suddenly find themselves very reluctant to give CDLs to anyone not named Al or Butch.
Make it HURT and people will STOP.
All the people they have harmed
Who do the NC authorities think they are? California?!?
As a CDL holder in NC I can tell you it’s a giant problem. NC has been one of the top destinations for illegal aliens for years and the Dems love it.
This is why none of the truck drivers on 95 know how to drive.
The vile, stupid and evil Dhimmi-crats have been enabling and facilitating illegal alien entry, receipt of entitlements and receipt of other indicia and benefits of citizenship, for decades, with total impunity.
Accountability is long overdue.
‘illegally issued’. Illegally means a crime has been committed.
“The issue is not isolated.”
How come all this administration does is go on Fox News to own the libs, and threaten to take away their candy money, but no politicos ever go to prison for ‘illegally’?
If you were to write a disasterous recipe for loosing the midterms by demoralizing your base with all this impotent owning the libs crap instead PUTTING THEM IN PRISON, what would you do differently??
“but no politicos ever go to prison for ‘illegally’?”
Because those in power in this country are functionally above and outside the law the rest of us have to follow.
Subotai Bahadur
And have written, sorry, “crafted” the laws to make it so.
No, it doesn’t mean that. Unless there’s a specific statute that says a state official shall not issue a license to someone who is not qualified to receive one, it’s not an offense at all. And unless the statute says it’s a felony or a misdemeanor, it’s not a crime, just a violation.
“…North Carolina’s reviewed non-domiciled CDLs were issued in violation of federal law…”
You’ve got an odd way of defining ‘no, it doesn’t mean that.’
As usual, Milhouse is making a somewhat technical point, He’s not wrong, but he’s not right either.
You said that a “crime” had been committed. Generally speaking, “crimes” are offenses that can result in jail / prison time. No one is going to prison over this, so the offense is technically not a crime.
Milhouse goes off the beaten path a bit in that his stance is based on “shall not issue.” The laws are written as “shall issue” if a person meets the qualifying criteria, The state cannot say that a person qualifies for a license and then denies that license willy nilly. There is actual case law on that.
So technically, Millhouse is right because no “crime” has been committed and you are right that someone somewhere broke a statute with a civil penalty.
Can carriers participate in preventing these drivers from being on the road? Understanding that they cannot be expected to “police” the problem, the question is what can or should they do? How big a role in this do or should they play? Is this similar to poll workers not questioning suspect voters on Election Day?
If you mean “can carriers prevent these drivers statewide?” the answer would be “no” as carriers have no enforcement authority.
The better question is “is a carrier required to hire someone they suspect of obtaining a license falsely or someone that is not qualified?” That answer would be a huge “no,”
The problem is that carriers are under tremendous economic pressure. They have more loads than drivers. So they are not looking further than “does he have a license?” The problem with that thinking is the legal liability if the driver causes an accident.
In the Florida case where a driver with a California wrongfully issued CDL and the driver killed people, the company is being sued because they knew or should have known the license was issued fraudulently. The judgement for multiple deaths will likely result in economic ruin and the end of the company.
I have driven a 45’ motor Coach for the past 9 years. With my Jeep being towed behind I am 60’ of 60,000 lbs of mass traveling at 68 mph on the Interstates and byways. I can tell you from first hand experience that there are many truck drivers who are very deficient in driving skills. Constant weaving in and out of lanes, zero road courtesy, dangerous lane changes and more. I fuel at truck stop lanes. You would not believe the number of drivers who have no or limited english skills. I have been traveling the interstates and byways since the 60’s. It’s bad and getting worse. Every time a State DOT does a mass license check at weigh stations or State lines they take 30-100 illegal drivers off the road. I am advocate of doing the same at truck stops and fueling areas.
Maybe its time to redeploy some of those TSA folks to weigh stations. Many States operate them intermittently probably due to budgetary reasons. The Feds could partner with willing States to reopen the weigh stations and screen the vehicles along with the drivers. In areas with weigh stations within the ‘border’ (100 miles including oceans/gulf/lakes) add some CBP/ICE agents.
if those who did illegal acts dont go to prison
then the gop needs to make laws where we pay zero taxes
So in your mind drivers who speed should go to prison? A person who parks their cars illegally should go to prison?
Your sentiment is understandable, but not all acts which break the law allow for prison time.
To be fair people often do go to jail for rather frivolous reasons. Get a traffic citation and refuse to sign? In some jurisdictions your ass is going to jail. Get a bunch of parking tickets and don’t pay them? You might get a warrant out on you.
Malfeasance of office would seem to encompass the sort of willful ignorance/deliberately obtuse and pretending ‘not to know’ that Joe Blow who showed up to DMV and didn’t speak English very well and had to have forms and CDL application docs explained to him due to language barrier probably didn’t meet the English language proficiency requirement for CDL but was issued anyway.