California’s highways are becoming a national danger zone, thanks to a reckless policy on commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) that’s drawing fierce federal backlash.
Breitbart reported that under Governor Gavin Newsom’s watch, the state has issued thousands of questionable CDLs to illegal immigrants and other non-citizens, ignoring federal guidelines, leading to deadly crashes, and now risking hundreds of millions in highway funding as regulators demand accountability.
This mess started gaining attention when a Department of Transportation audit uncovered that a staggering one in four non-domiciled CDLs in California were handed out improperly.
Many of these licenses remain valid for years beyond the expiration of the drivers’ immigration documents, creating a ticking time bomb on American roads.
On September 26, 2025, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration stepped in with an emergency rule, tightening eligibility for non-domiciled CDLs to exclude asylum seekers and mandating strict immigration status checks.
California, however, shrugged off the warning, continuing to approve and even upgrade licenses without adhering to these critical new standards.
Take the heartbreaking case of Jashanpreet Singh, a 20-year-old asylum seeker who received a restricted CDL in June 2025, limited to intrastate driving.
Just weeks after turning 21 on October 15, 2025, the California DMV upgraded his license, scrapping the restriction without applying the newly required federal checks that would have flagged his ineligibility.
The result? A devastating crash on October 21, 2025, near Los Angeles, where Singh, allegedly under the influence of drugs, killed three people and hospitalized two others.
Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy didn’t mince words, pointing the finger squarely at California’s leadership for this tragedy.
“It would have never happened if Gavin Newsom had followed our new rules,” Duffy wrote in a scathing report. “California broke the law and now three people are dead and two are hospitalized.”
There’s a bitter irony here—while California plays fast and loose with safety, the federal government is threatening to pull highway funds to force compliance, a move that could cost the state dearly.
Meanwhile, other states like Texas have taken a hard line, cracking down on drivers lacking English proficiency since early September 2025, dropping their problematic CDL numbers significantly.
Contrast that with California’s estimated 60,000 non-domiciled CDLs, a quarter of which fail to meet federal standards, and it’s clear why Duffy and others are sounding the alarm on this growing crisis.
“We have states that are giving out CDLs like candy,” Duffy declared on Friday, underscoring the urgency of holding non-compliant states accountable for endangering lives.
