Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy threatened to withhold federal funding from Minnesota and decertify the state’s commercial driver license program on Monday after a September audit found that the state vaguely complied with federal laws.
The audit alleged that the Minnesota Department of Public Safety’s Driver and Vehicle Services issued nondomiciled CDLs that extend beyond the expiration of drivers lawfully present in the United States and to drivers without verifying their legal status.
DVS also issued lawful resident CDLs to noncitizens who have residence in foreign countries, known as temporary residents of the U.S., to Mexican citizens not present in the U.S. under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. They also awarded resident or “nondomiciled” CDLs to temporary residents, who should have been issued regular CDLs instead, according to the audit.
“Minnesota failed to follow the law and illegally doled out trucking licenses to unsafe, unqualified non-citizens – endangering American families on the road,” Duffy wrote in a press release. “That abuse stops now under the Trump Administration. The Department will withhold funding if Minnesota continues this reckless behavior that puts non-citizens gaming the system ahead of the safety of Americans.”
In a letter to Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) and DPS Commissioner Bob Jacobson, Duffy warned the state that if it does not revoke the unlawfully issued CDLs, he could withhold up to $30.4 million in federal aid and decertify the state-run CDL program.
The DPS must identify all unexpired nondomiciled CDLs that do not comply with the regulations put in place by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration; revoke and reissue all federally noncompliant, nondomiciled CDLs; and undertake a comprehensive internal audit to identify and correct all procedural and programming errors, training and quality assurance problems, insufficient policies and practices, and other problems that resulted in the issuance of unlawfully administered nondomiciled CDLs.
Duffy’s threats to Minnesota come after he issued a similar warning to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation on Nov. 21, threatening to pull $75 million in federal funds after the September audit found the state agency had been unlawfully administering commercial driver’s licenses to “ineligible and unqualified” drivers.
DUFFY THREATENS TO YANK $75 MILLION IN FUNDING FOR PENNSYLVANIA OVER ILLEGAL CDLS
In total, the audit alleged that nearly 44% of the 16,000 truck driving programs that lawfully operate in the U.S., including those in Pennsylvania and Minnesota, do not comply with the minimal federal requirements.
Given the audit’s findings, the department issued a warning to nearly 3,000 trucking programs on Monday that their certifications could be revoked unless they can comply with training requirements in the next 30 days. An additional 4,500 schools have been warned that they face similar action.