Illinois faces criticism for unlawfully issuing 20 percent of its commercial truck driver’s licenses to undocumented individuals, according to a government report.
A report from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) reveals that of 150 commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) issued to non-residents, 29 were found to be issued illegally, as referenced by Just The News.
“The audit conducted by the DOT indicates that 29 out of 150 non-domicile CDLs sampled were improperly granted. A letter detailing these findings was sent to Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Driver Services Director Kevin Dusterhaus on Tuesday.
Moreover, the DOT identified that Pritzker authorized a staggering 10,088 CDLs to undocumented persons.
The findings also indicated that Illinois provided licenses that remained valid even after the applicants’ legal status in the U.S. had expired. This allowed individuals to appear as if they could drive legally despite having no legal right to live in the country, and the licenses acted as a “valid” form of ID for immigrants.
The DOT has given Illinois a 30-day deadline to revoke or invalidate the licenses in question, or face a loss of $128 million in federal highway funding.
The agency has mandated that Illinois “immediately suspend the issuance of any new, renewed, transferred, amended, corrected, reprinted, or upgraded non-domicile commercial learner’s permits and CDLs until the FMCSA acknowledges in writing that the state’s corrective action plan has been accepted and enacted.”
“We need our state partners to recognize that their duty is to the American public, rather than to undocumented immigrants who have violated the law by entering this country illegally and then continuing to break the law by operating trucks without the necessary qualifications,” said Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy in his correspondence.
“While the Biden administration puts Americans at risk by sharing roads with unqualified foreign drivers, the Trump administration prioritizes the needs of American families,” Duffy further stated.
Duffy’s agency is currently investigating the issuance of tens of thousands of licenses to undocumented individuals in states such as New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and California.
After an incident in Indiana where four Amish men were killed by an immigrant with a truck driver’s license, Duffy announced investigations into the trucking company and the state that issued the licenses.
Texas is also tightening regulations for nonresident truck drivers, introducing new requirements for proof of legal residency before issuing CDLs.
