Gavin Newsom thought he could keep stalling on Trump's immigration crackdown.
The California governor severely miscalculated what would happen next.
And Sean Duffy just called Newsom's bluff with one threat that has California scrambling.
Transportation Secretary slams the brakes on Newsom's delay tactics
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy laid down the law on Tuesday when he rejected California's attempt to delay revoking 17,000 commercial driver's licenses issued to foreign nationals without legal status.
The California DMV announced it was pushing back the January 5 deadline for canceling these licenses until March 6, claiming it needed more time to avoid wrongfully terminating licenses for drivers who legally qualify.
Duffy wasn't buying it.
"Gavin Newsom is lying," Duffy wrote on X. "The deadline to revoke illegally issued, unvetted foreign trucker licenses is still January 5."¹
California doesn't get to make up its own timeline when federal highway safety is on the line.
"California does NOT have an 'extension' to keep violating federal law and putting Americans at risk on the roads," Duffy continued.²
Then he delivered the hammer blow that has Sacramento scrambling.
"Miss the deadline, Gavin, and the @USDOT will act — including cutting nearly $160 million in federal funding," Duffy warned.³
This showdown has been brewing since last summer when a series of horrific crashes involving foreign truck drivers exposed California's reckless approach to commercial licenses.
In August, Harjinder Singh — an illegal immigrant who entered the country by crossing the Mexico border in 2018 — made an illegal U-turn on a Florida highway and killed three people.
California had issued Singh a commercial driver's license despite his illegal status.
The Florida crash wasn't an isolated incident.
Deadly crashes reveal California's broken system
In October, Jashanpreet Singh — a 20-year-old asylum seeker — was operating a semi-truck under the influence of drugs on a California freeway when he slammed into stopped vehicles and killed three more people.
California issued Singh a non-domiciled CDL in June 2025 even though he was an asylum seeker.
Secretary Duffy issued emergency rules in September specifically to prevent asylum seekers from obtaining commercial driver's licenses.
If California had followed those rules, Singh would have been required to return to the DMV in October and would have been found ineligible to retain his CDL.
Those three victims would still be alive.
"My prayers are with the families of the victims of this tragedy," Duffy said. "It would have never happened if Gavin Newsom had followed our new rules. California broke the law and now three people are dead and two are hospitalized. These people deserve justice. There will be consequences."⁴
A federal audit revealed the full scope of California's failures.
One in four non-domiciled CDLs sampled in California were issued improperly — licenses with expiration dates extending years beyond drivers' lawful presence in the country, licenses issued to individuals prohibited from holding them, and zero verification procedures.⁵
Duffy forced California to admit it had been caught red-handed when the state finally announced it would revoke 17,000 licenses in November.
"After weeks of claiming they did nothing wrong, Gavin Newsom and California have been caught red-handed," Duffy declared. "Now that we've exposed their lies, 17,000 illegally issued trucking licenses are being revoked."⁶
California's excuse that it needed to "ensure that it does not wrongfully terminate licenses for drivers who legally qualify" rings hollow.
The state had months to get this right and instead kept issuing licenses to foreign nationals who shouldn't be driving 80,000-pound trucks on American highways.
A class-action lawsuit filed by the Asian Law Caucus and Sikh Coalition tried to halt the revocations by claiming many drivers may actually qualify for their licenses.
But the Trump Administration isn't backing down.
Duffy has already withheld $40 million in federal funding because California refuses to enforce English language proficiency requirements for commercial drivers.
The Transportation Secretary found that California conducted roughly 34,000 inspections since the new English standards took effect, but only one inspection involved an English language violation that resulted in a driver being taken out of service.⁷
Twenty-three drivers with documented English proficiency violations in other states were later inspected in California, yet the state failed to honor those violations and allowed these unqualified drivers to continue operating.⁸
"I put states on notice this summer: enforce the Trump Administration's English language requirements or the checks stop coming," Duffy said. "California is the only state in the nation that refuses to ensure big rig drivers can read our road signs and communicate with law enforcement."⁹
Trump Administration holds the line on highway safety
This fight over commercial driver's licenses isn't about paperwork.
It's about whether states get to ignore federal safety regulations and put American lives at risk to protect their sanctuary policies.
Newsom's attempt to delay the license revocations until March shows he still thinks he can run out the clock and avoid accountability.
The California DMV claimed it needed more time because of concerns raised in the lawsuit about potentially revoking licenses from drivers who legally qualify.
But the audit already proved California's system is broken — one in four sampled licenses were issued improperly, and the state couldn't even prove it checked immigration status for many drivers.
Duffy's emergency rules issued in September drastically restricted who can obtain a non-domiciled CDL.
Non-citizens are now ineligible unless they have an employment-based visa and undergo a mandatory federal immigration status check through the SAVE system.
The rules specifically prevent all asylum seekers from obtaining these licenses.
California was required to identify all unexpired non-domiciled CDLs that fail to comply with federal regulations and revoke them if they don't meet the new requirements.
The January 5 deadline wasn't arbitrary — it came after California had 30 days from September 26 to respond to the federal government's preliminary determination of substantial noncompliance.
Newsom's office tried to shift blame to the federal government, claiming every driver whose license is being revoked had valid work authorizations.
But that excuse doesn't wash when California issued licenses with expiration dates that extended years beyond when those work authorizations expired.
The Trump Administration is sending a clear message: states don't get to choose which federal safety rules to follow.
Duffy's threat to cut $160 million in highway funding — with the potential to double to $320 million in year two — gives California a powerful incentive to get its act together.¹⁰
For too long, sanctuary states like California have prioritized protecting illegal immigrants over the safety of American citizens.
The deadly crashes involving foreign truck drivers issued licenses by California prove the consequences of that reckless policy.
Secretary Duffy is making sure those days are over.
¹ Sean Duffy, X post, December 31, 2025.
² Ibid.
³ Ibid.
⁴ U.S. Department of Transportation, "BOMBSHELL REPORT: Trump's Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy Finds California Broke Federal Laws, Let Dangerous Foreign Driver Kill 3 on Freeway," October 24, 2025.
⁵ Ibid.
⁶ NPR, "California plans to revoke 17,000 commercial driver's licenses given to immigrants," November 13, 2025.
⁷ CNN Politics, "Federal government to withhold $40M from California for not enforcing trucker English requirements," October 16, 2025.
⁸ Ibid.
⁹ U.S. Department of Transportation, "Trump's Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy Announces Consequences for California's Failure to Enforce English Language Requirements for Truckers," October 15, 2025.
¹⁰ Fox Business, "Duffy says California does not have extension on deadline to cancel foreign nationals' trucker licenses," December 31, 2025.