It’s “reckoning day” for California.
The Trump administration announced Wednesday it will withhold $160 million in funding to California after the Golden State missed a deadline to revoke 17,000 commercial driver’s licenses the feds say were improperly issued to illegal immigrants.
“It’s reckoning day for Gavin Newsom and California,” US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement.
“Our demands were simple: follow the rules, revoke the unlawfully-issued licenses to dangerous foreign drivers, and fix the system so this never happens again,” Duffy added. “[Gavin] Newsom has failed to do so – putting the needs of illegal immigrants over the safety of the American people.”
In September, a nationwide audit revealed more than 25% of immigrant CDL’s issued by California were illegal, including licenses that expired years past the expiration date of their lawful presence documentation.
The Transportation Department gave a deadline of January 5 deadline to cancel the licenses.
California initially agreed to revoke the licenses, but in December announced it would delay the revocations to give immigrants who legally qualify a chance to keep them.
