Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy lit into California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday, accusing him of flat-out lying about a supposed extension delaying the revocation of thousands of commercial driver’s licenses issued to non-citizens. Duffy has been pushing for a crackdown on the reckless practice of handing out CDLs to truck drivers who, in some cases, can barely understand English or read basic road signs—an arrangement that defies common sense and puts lives at risk.
Duffy’s sharp rebuke followed reports that the California Department of Motor Vehicles was granting a 60-day extension to roughly 17,000 non-domiciled CDL holders, shifting the revocation deadline from January 5, 2026, to March 6, 2026.
The DMV tried to justify the move by claiming it needed extra time to reissue “corrected” licenses to eligible drivers and pointed to a pending class-action lawsuit brought by activist groups. In other words: excuses, lawyers, and delay.
Duffy wasn’t buying it. He fired back on social media, making it clear that California doesn’t get to unilaterally rewrite federal transportation rules or extend deadlines without approval from his department.
“Gavin Newsom is lying,” he wrote on X. “The deadline to revoke illegally issued, unvetted foreign trucker licenses is still January 5. California does NOT have an ‘extension’ to keep breaking the law and putting Americans at risk on the roads.”
Gavin Newsom is lying. The deadline to revoke illegally issued, unvetted foreign trucker licenses is still January 5.
California does NOT have an “extension” to keep breaking the law and putting Americans at risk on the roads.
Miss the deadline, Gavin, and the @USDOT will act —…
— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) December 31, 2025
Wait—you mean to tell me you can’t just invent new rules out of thin air and expect everyone else to go along with it? Shocking. Maybe the Brylcreem seeping into Gavin’s perfectly sculpted dome is finally starting to interfere with basic cognition.
To be fair, the reporting only attributes the attempted extension to California DMV officials and doesn’t explicitly say Newsom personally ordered it. But given California’s track record, no one is exactly lining up to give him the benefit of the doubt.
The dust-up traces back to a 2025 Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration audit that uncovered widespread failures in California’s non-domiciled CDL program. Among the problems: licenses issued with expiration dates that extended beyond drivers’ lawful presence in the U.S. or their valid work authorizations—an obvious violation that somehow slipped through in a deep-blue state obsessed with “equity” and allergic to enforcement.
And just last month, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy finally pulled the plug, yanking an eye-popping 17,000 illegal truckers’ licenses in Newsom’s California. It was long overdue—and a reminder of just how badly the state let basic safety and federal law slide until Washington stepped in.
“After weeks of claiming they did nothing wrong, Gavin Newsom and California have been caught red-handed. Now that we’ve exposed their lies, 17,000 illegally issued trucking licenses are being revoked,” he said at the time. “This is just the tip of the iceberg. My team will continue to force California to prove they have removed every illegal immigrant from behind the wheel of semitrucks and school buses.”
BREAKING: California admits they illegally issued 17,000 non-domiciled Commercial Driver’s Licenses to “dangerous foreign drivers.”
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says he’s revoking all of them.
Democrats gave CDLs to foreigners who don’t speak English or understand our… pic.twitter.com/wpZhCIYmKx
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) November 12, 2025
Seventeen thousand illegal drivers is an astonishing number—especially when you remember that it only takes one to wreak irreversible devastation on innocent Americans.
Look no further than the case of Harjinder Singh, a 28-year-old illegal immigrant from India who perfectly illustrates why issuing licenses to criminal aliens is reckless insanity. Singh somehow managed to obtain commercial driver’s licenses in both Washington and California despite failing his knowledge test ten times. He also failed an English proficiency assessment—an obvious red flag for anyone tasked with safely operating an 80,000-pound vehicle on American highways.
According to authorities, Singh later caused a horrific crash on the Florida Turnpike by making an illegal U-turn with his semi-truck, slamming into a minivan and killing three people. He was arrested on three counts of vehicular homicide and manslaughter.
This is the real, human cost of California’s—and the broader Left’s—anything-goes approach to licensing and immigration enforcement. It isn’t abstract. It isn’t theoretical. It’s deadly. And the fact that officials allowed thousands of drivers like this on the road should outrage every American who expects basic competence, sanity, and the rule of law from their government.
BREAKING: It’s now being reported that Harjinder Singh entered the U.S. illegally in 2018 after crossing the Mexico border and later obtained a Commercial Driver’s License in California pic.twitter.com/DUFhrOonBJ
— Unlimited L's (@unlimited_ls) August 17, 2025
Illegally licensed in Gavin Newsom’s California. Three Americans dead thousands of miles away because of it.
Singh’s case finally forced federal action. Immigration and Customs Enforcement launched Operation Highway Sentinel, which resulted in the arrest of more than 100 illegal alien truck drivers operating on California highways—drivers who never should have been behind the wheel in the first place.
Duffy has now put Newsom and the state DMV on notice. Miss the January 5 deadline, and the U.S. Department of Transportation will pull nearly $160 million in federal funding.
