The Department is now moving to withhold $73 million in federal funding if New York fails to follow the law, revoke every illegally issued license
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy today announced that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) nationwide audit of non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) uncovered that the New York Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) has been routinely issuing CDLs to foreign drivers illegally. The federal audit exposed a shocking 53 percent failure rate in the records sampled, indicating a total collapse in the administration of New York’s CDL program.
FMCSA’s audit of New York’s non-domiciled CDL issuance practices found numerous failures by the state of New York including:
- Out of 200 sampled records, 107 were issued in violation of federal law-a failure rate of over 53%.
- The DMV’s systems defaulted to issuing 8-year licenses to foreign drivers for non-REAL ID licenses, regardless of when their legal status expired.
- New York issued commercial licenses to foreign drivers without providing any evidence that it had verified their current lawful presence in the United States.
“When more than half of the licenses reviewed were issued illegally, it isn’t just a mistake-it is a dereliction of duty by state leadership. Gov. Hochul must immediately revoke these illegally issued licenses. If they refuse to follow the law, we will withhold federal highway funding,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy. “This administration will never stop fighting to keep you and your family safe on our roads.”
In a stunning admission, New York DMV officials confirmed that their licensing system is programmed to default to an automatic 8-year expiration for non-REAL ID CDLs-intentionally disregarding the expiration of a foreign driver’s lawful presence in the U.S. This systemic failure allows the state to blindly grant long-term commercial driving privileges to foreigners that expire long after the expiration of their lawful presence in the country.
The audit also uncovered numerous cases where the New York DMV relied upon expired lawful presence documents to issue commercial licenses. This allowed foreign drivers whose lawful status in the United States had expired to obtain a CDL.
The Department has ordered New York to immediately revoke every illegally issued license held by these foreign drivers and come into compliance or risk losing approximately $73 million in federal highway funding.
Additional Information:
USDOT is now demanding that New York take the following corrective measures to avoid funding being withheld:
- Immediately pause the issuance of all new, renewed, transferred, or upgraded non-domiciled CDLs or commercial learner’s permits (CLPs).
- Conduct a comprehensive internal audit to identify every non-domiciled license that was issued in violation of federal regulations and the policies, practices, and procedures that allowed for the issuance of non-compliant licenses.
- Immediately revoke all unexpired, noncompliant licenses and remove unqualified drivers from the road.
“The 2025 CDL audit uncovered that New York DMV’s license issuing practices are a grossly unacceptable deviation from federal regulations that have compromised the integrity of the state’s CDL program,” said FMCSA Administrator Derek D. Barrs. “New York must act immediately to comprehensively audit its CDL program and revoke every single illegally issued licenses.”
By regulation, New York has 30 days to respond to FMCSA’s enforcement action. Failure to take immediate corrective action will trigger the withholding of federal funds and could result in the total decertification of New York’s CDL program.