New York State to stop issuing commercial driver's licenses to many immigrants, in bow to Trump administration

New York’s DMV, bowing to a directive from President Donald Trump's administration, will no longer issue commercial driver's licenses to many immigrants — a move that could significantly shrink the pool of available drivers for Long Island school bus service providers, transit operators and delivery companies, experts said.

Following a threat from the U.S. Department of Transportation to withhold $73 million in federal highway funding, the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles confirmed to Newsday on Thursday that it was discontinuing a program that allowed commercial driver's licenses to be issued to "non-domiciled" applicants, including foreign nationals with temporary residency status.

In December, the U.S. DOT, citing the findings of a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration audit, accused New York of routinely issuing commercial driver's licenses to "foreign drivers illegally." Although the law allows states to issue the licenses to green card holders, many were being issued even after some drivers’ temporary residency statuses expired, according to the federal agency.

DMV officials said they complied with federal rules, and every commercial license issued "is subject to verification of an applicant's lawful status through federally issued documents reviewed in accordance with federal regulations."

Still, DMV spokesman Walter McClure in a statement to Newsday on Thursday said "upon specific order from the federal government, New York’s non-domiciled CDL program is indefinitely paused, including renewals."

Federal transportation officials did not respond to requests for comment.

Assessing impact

The DMV’s announcement sent decision-makers and labor leaders in Long Island’s commercial driving industry scrambling to assess the impact of the change, and how they will respond.

It was unclear how many Long Island commercial drivers would be affected by the move, but federal officials have said about 32,000 non-domiciled commercial driver's licenses are in circulation in New York. New York City officials, in a lawsuit against the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, in October estimated that some 200,000 immigrant drivers throughout the United States could lose their jobs if the non-domiciled commercial driver's licenses are revoked.

Mark Smith, spokesman for the Nassau Inter-County Express, or NICE Bus, which employs more than 500 drivers, said company officials "are working closely with any potentially impacted employees to fully understand their options and support the best possible path forward."

Huntington immigration attorney David Sperling was "very sorry to hear about this crackdown," which he expects would hit school bus companies particularly hard.

"Immigrants are their prime source of drivers. It’s a perfect job for them," said Sperling, who noted that bus driver jobs pay above minimum wage, offer benefits and have few skill requirements outside of possessing a commercial driver’s license. "The vast, vast majority of immigrants are peaceful and contribute to this country. And bus drivers are an excellent example of how they’re serving the country," Sperling said.

The elimination of the non-domiciled commercial driver’s license will cause a "great hardship" to school bus companies, especially if they are forced to pay more to attract drivers. "If they have to raise the starting pay, some of them are going to go out of business," he said.

Language barrier

Zachary Clark, director of operations for Commercial Driver Training, a driving school in West Babylon, said that before the Trump administration, immigrants with temporary residency status made up about 5% of his customer base. He expects the DMV’s change could "definitely lower the amount of students we have."

Still, Clark said he supports the more restrictive licensing measures because of the importance of commercial drivers being able to communicate in English and read road signs.

The Trump administration’s heightened scrutiny of immigrant drivers came after a deadly Florida crash in August involving a truck and a minivan. Federal officials said the truck driver, who was in the United States unlawfully, caused the crash by making an illegal U-turn.

Clark said that in past years, the language barrier between his trainers and permit-holding students was often "extremely bad."

"It was accepted, almost, that if you did not speak the English language ... you were still getting your CDL," Clark said.

Sperling said it’s "entirely reasonable" to require some English proficiency when issuing commercial driver’s licenses, but he doesn’t believe that’s "the purpose of this crackdown."

"The crackdown is about brute force against immigrants in general," Sperling said.

By Alfonso A. Castillo

alfonso.castillo@newsday.com@alfonsoreports

Alfonso Castillo has been reporting for Newsday since 1999 and covering the transportation beat since 2008. He grew up in the Bronx and Queens and now lives in Valley Stream with his wife and two sons.