Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy issued a stern warning to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) following a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration audit that uncovered over half of the state’s non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) were improperly issued to illegal aliens.
We repeat – over half of them went to people in this country illegally.
Duffy made no bones about it, suggesting the audit’s findings indicate a level of corruption beyond any simple mistake and accusing officials in the Empire State of “routinely” issuing CDLs to illegals.
“When more than half of the licenses reviewed were issued illegally, it isn’t just a mistake — it is a dereliction of duty by state leadership,” Duffy said at a press conference on Friday.
He gave Hochul an ultimatum—strip the illegal immigrant truckers of their licenses or lose millions in federal funding. Tens of millions.
“Gov. [Kathy] Hochul must immediately revoke these illegally issued licenses,” said Duffy. “If they refuse to follow the law, we will withhold federal highway funding.”
.@SecDuffy announces that 53% of New York’s non-domiciled CDLs were issued unlawfully:
“I am going to give New York 30 days… to come into compliance… If New York refuses to come into compliance…we are going to pull tens of millions of dollars.” pic.twitter.com/OTclZFf3JE
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) December 12, 2025
DOT Sec. Duffy Blows Lid Off Terrifying Number of Non-English-Speaking Truckers They’ve Found So Far
Duffy reiterated the warning in a post on X.
“We’re holding New York accountable for issuing non-domicile commercial driver’s licenses to truckers illegally. FULL STOP,” he said. “We’re giving New York 30 days to comply, or we’ll withhold $73 MILLION!”
“The safety of the American people comes first.”
Not in Hochul’s New York. The order of importance is: Criminals first, followed by illegals, Chinese spies, then way down the list are actual New Yorkers.
Duffy has been consistently blowing the lid off this ongoing crisis, noting that illegal, non-English speaking drivers on the highways of America are a threat to everybody’s safety. Earlier this week, he announced that his department had removed nearly 10,000 such drivers from the roads.
We’ve now knocked 9,500 truck drivers out of service for failing to speak our national language — ENGLISH!
This administration will always put you and your family’s safety first.🚚 https://t.co/mRVsMI26Ir
— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) December 10, 2025
Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik (NY-21), a powerful and proven ally of President Trump who is running for Governor of New York in 2026, blasted Hochul for the CDL scandal and noted the Democrat’s support for criminal illegals is a deadly threat.
“More than half of New York’s commercial trucking licenses have been issued to illegals under Kathy Hochul’s watch,” Stefanik tells RedState. “These criminal illegals whom she’s rewarded have gone on to kill people—including a National Guardsman—while behind the wheel of massive tractor-trailers.”
“Secretary Duffy is right in defunding the Worst Governor in America’s fatal operation that is threatening New Yorkers’ lives on the road.”
According to a press release, the FMCSA audit sampled 200 CDL records and found that 107 had been issued illegally. That’s just under 54 percent. But this incredibly dangerous practice runs deeper than numbers.
As RedState’s Becky Noble has covered extensively, actual lives are being lost out there, and New York is making a mockery of the process by doling out licenses to people listed as, and we quote, “No Name Given.”
Illegal migrant trucker with ‘No Name Given’ on NY driver’s license ID’d, arrested in Oklahoma https://t.co/scEAZI5bFB pic.twitter.com/CvNzwaGHdH
— New York Post (@nypost) October 11, 2025
While not a New York-specific case, the tragic incident involving Harjinder Singh, a 28-year-old illegal from India, drives home the point that issuing licenses to criminal aliens is a bad idea. Singh obtained CDLs in Washington and California despite failing his knowledge test 10 times, as well as an English proficiency assessment.
He is alleged to have caused a fatal crash on the Florida Turnpike by making an illegal U-turn with his semi-truck, killing three people in a minivan. Singh was arrested on three counts of vehicular homicide and manslaughter.
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
Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin (R) suggested Hochul has been “willingly” endangering the lives of innocent people.
“[Hochul] willingly and gladly endangers New Yorkers daily,” he wrote on X, “and then spreads it throughout the country.”
Duffy contends that the CDL issue isn’t just a threat to New Yorkers; it’s a threat to all Americans.
“You don’t just drive in New York if you get a New York commercial driver’s license — you drive around the country,” he said.
Illegals shouldn’t be driving anywhere, under any circumstances.
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