- Trump administration threatens to withhold $75 million from Pennsylvania.
- Demand to revoke allegedly illegal commercial driver's licenses to immigrants.
- Action follows discovery of Uzbek terror suspect with Pennsylvania CDL.
After taking similar measures against California, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is now focusing on Pennsylvania. Democratic governors in charge of both states have expressed disapproval of President Donald Trump's administration and are thought to be strong candidates for the party's 2028 presidential nomination.
Since August, when an unauthorized tractor-trailer driver did an illegal U-turn and caused a tragedy in Florida that claimed three lives, Duffy has made it a top priority to examine the licensing process. The public became aware of the problem as a result of that episode.
The number of Pennsylvania residents who might be impacted is unknown. Two out of 150 individuals were detected in an audit, according to a letter from the Republican administration to Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro.
In addition to stopping the issuing of new, renewed, and transferred commercial driver's licenses and permits, the Trump administration is urging Pennsylvania to carry out an audit to determine whose licenses have expirations longer than the driver's permitted stay in the nation.
Additionally, it requests that the state cancel non compliant licenses and take such drivers off the road.
Gavin Newsom and Shapiro, the governors of California and Pennsylvania, are fierce opponents of Trump and have frequently been singled out by his administration.
According to Shapiro's administration, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration published a rule in late September that would significantly restrict the number of immigrants who may obtain a commercial driver's license. As a result, the state transportation department halted issuing all commercial driver's licenses to noncitizens.
The order has been temporarily suspended by a federal judge, but according to Shapiro's administration, the transportation department has not yet started issuing "non-domiciled CDLs."
This week, Shapiro also inferred that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was failing to adequately manage a vital database that states use to corroborate an emigrant's legal status previous to granting a noncitizen motorist's license.
His reflections followed the Department of Homeland Security's advertisement that it had detained an Uzbek public who held a Pennsylvania- issued marketable motorist's license. According to the department, the existent, whose work authorization was issued in 2024, was wanted in his native country for being a member of a terrorist group.
“They clearly are not minding the shop, and they’ve gotta get better, because every single state in the country relies on this database when making a determination as to who qualifies for a CDL. We relied on the feds before issuing this one,”
Shapiro said.
What federal law allows withholding highway funds over CDL issues?
The civil law that allows withholding trace finances over issues related to marketable motorist’s licenses (CDLs) is codified in 49 CFR §384.401, which pertains to the withholding of finances grounded on resistance by countries.
Up to 4 percent of the civil trace finances allocated to a state under 23 U.S.C.§104( b)( 1) and( 2) can be withheld following the first time of resistance. Larger penalties, including implicit decertification of the state's CDL program and withholding of over 8 percent of civil finances, can occur in cases of continued resistance in posterior times.
This regulation provides the legal basis for the civil government's capability to apply compliance by withholding significant portions of trace backing if countries fail to duly regulate and corroborate CDL allocation practices, especially concerning non-citizens or individualities with unlawfully issued licenses.