Appeals Court Halts DOT Restrictions on Commercial Driver’s Licenses for Immigrants

The court said the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration failed to demonstrate any safety benefit from the rule.

Trucks on Interstate 80 in Albany, Calif., on Nov. 14, 2025. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

A federal appeals court in the District of Columbia has temporarily blocked the Department of Transportation (DOT) from enforcing a new rule that narrows the conditions under which states may issue commercial driver’s licenses to noncitizens.

The ruling followed an Oct. 20 petition from two truck drivers and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) seeking judicial review of the interim final rule by the DOT’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) in September.

The rule limits eligibility for nondomiciled commercial driver’s licenses (CDL) to holders of H-2A (temporary agricultural workers), H-2B (temporary nonagricultural workers), and E-2 (treaty investors) visas, with no other immigration categories eligible, according to a document published on the Federal Register on Sept. 29.

In its Nov. 13 ruling, the appeals court said the federal government didn’t follow proper procedure in drafting the rule and failed to “articulate a satisfactory explanation for how the rule would promote safety.”

The court said the FMCSA’s data show that nondomiciled CDL holders make up roughly 5 percent of all CDL holders but are involved in only about 0.2 percent of fatal crashes in the United States.

“Whereas FMCSA does not appear to have demonstrated any safety benefit from the rule, the county petitioner has furnished evidence that the rule would harm public safety by forcing it to replace safer experienced drivers with less-safe new drivers,” it stated.

The ruling also found that the petitioners will likely succeed in their claims that the FMCSA issued the rule without prior consultation with the states.

The agency has argued that it did not consult states because the total cost of compliance with the rule was not expected to be substantial and that such consultation was “not practicable,” according to court documents. The court rejected that argument.

Judge Karen L. Henderson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit dissented, noting that FMCSA had presented five recent fatal crashes involving foreign-domiciled CDL drivers—which killed 12 individuals—suggesting that an audit of their foreign driving records might have barred them from obtaining CDLs in the United States.

“These examples merely bolstered the FMCSA’s already reasonable determination that allowing CDL-holders with unverified driving histories on our roadways is unsafe,” Henderson stated.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy responded to the court ruling Saturday, defending the restrictions.

“I will fight this ruling,” Duffy posted on X. “The facts are clear: our national audit has exposed a complete breakdown in how states issue non-domiciled licenses—allowing thousands of dangerous drivers to operate trucks.”

The new rule closes a loophole that allows foreign drivers to obtain a trucking license without proving that they qualify, the secretary added. He pointed to several recent accidents allegedly caused by foreign semi-truck drivers.

“That’s absurd, and a direct threat to the public,” he said. “This is a crisis that requires immediate action. We won’t stop fighting to keep dangerous, unqualified truck drivers off the road.”

It wasn’t clear on Monday afternoon if the government had filed an appeal in the case. The Epoch Times reached out to Duffy’s office for confirmation, but the request was not immediately returned.

AFSCME President Lee Saunders applauded the court’s decision on Nov. 14.

“Many public service workers who provide essential services like keeping our streets clean and driving our children to school require commercial drivers’ licenses,” Saunders said in a statement.

The FMCSA posted the court’s decision on its website, noting that the interim final rule is on hold until further notice, while states facing corrective action must continue to adhere to the guidance.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) had supported the new rule.

“For too long, loopholes in this program have allowed unqualified drivers onto our highways, putting professional truckers and the motoring public at risk,” OOIDA President Todd Spencer said in a statement.

The DOT took emergency action in September following a fatal crash in Florida on Aug. 12 that involved a semitruck driver who illegally entered the United States in 2018 through the southern border. The driver, identified as Harjinder Singh, obtained a commercial driver’s license in California.

The federal government has already withheld more than $40 million in funding from California after an investigation found that the state had not met federal English-language proficiency standards for truck drivers.

On Nov. 12, the DOT stated that California has revoked about 17,000 illegally issued trucking licenses, which were issued to nondomiciled CDL drivers.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Jill McLaughlin and The Associated Press contributed to this report.