Federal appeals court sides with New York state over truck driver's licenses for immigrants

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. Transportation Department wrongly decided to withhold nearly $74 million in highway money from New York state after it refused to revoke nearly 33,000 questionable commercial driver’s licenses for immigrants when an audit revealed problems last year, a federal appeals court said Friday.

A three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan concluded in a written decision that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, an arm of the Transportation Department, acted in a manner that was “arbitrary, capricious, or contrary to law” when it penalized New York.

The appeals court said the state can't be faulted for failing to cancel licenses when a commercial driver lost legal status to stay in the United States because rules that would require a cancellation were not in place at the time.

The driver's licenses pertain to commercial vehicles such as trucks, trailers, limousines and buses.

New York Attorney General Letitia James complained when the lawsuit was filed in April that the federal government was unfairly holding back money the state needs to repair roads and bridges. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul in the spring called the federal cuts “devastating” and characterized them as “political payback.”

Immigrants account for about 20% of all truck drivers while the non-domiciled licenses immigrants can receive represent about 5% of all commercial driver’s licenses or about 200,000 drivers.

Immigrant groups have said they believe that many drivers are being unfairly targeted.

The dispute came after Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy tightened rules governing when immigrants can obtain a commercial driver's license.

Officials said they took actions against states like New York after learning that some licenses remained valid long after an immigrant was no longer authorized to be in the country. New York issued licenses valid for eight years regardless of how long a driver’s visa remained valid, authorities said.

The Transportation Department had no immediate comment Friday. A message seeking comment from the New York attorney general's office was not immediately returned.

AP Transportation Writer Josh Funk reported from Omaha, Nebraska.