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Immigrant truck drivers urge action ahead of March 6 CDL expirations
The deadline could sideline thousands of immigrant drivers and disrupt freight movement.
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Malvika Choudhary - Sat, 21, Feb 2026
- 13:50 EST
- 24
Representative image / Freedom Drivers
Freedom Drivers, a California-based alliance of immigrant truck drivers, has urged state and federal officials to intervene as thousands of commercial driver’s licenses held by immigrant truck drivers in California are set to expire on March 6.
The group said the expirations could force legally authorized drivers off the road and disrupt freight movement, worsening an existing driver shortage in the trucking industry, which transports food, medicine, fuel, and other essential goods nationwide.
Also Read: U.S. narrows CDL eligibility for noncitizens in final rule
Immigrants make up nearly one in five truck drivers in the United States, according to industry estimates.
“For an independent trucker, it’s devastating,” said Fateh Singh, an owner-operator and co-founder of Freedom Drivers. “This isn’t just a job — it’s how I feed my family. If my CDL expires, the income stops immediately, but my truck payment and bills don’t. Losing my CDL can erase years of hard work overnight.”
Freedom Drivers said state departments of motor vehicles are proceeding with CDL cancellations affecting immigrant drivers despite a court-ordered stay and federal warnings that highway funding could be withheld.
Drivers holding valid federal work authorization and meeting licensing requirements risk being forced off the road, while trucking companies face sudden workforce disruptions.
Singh said the issue is one of equal treatment. “I passed the same written exam, road test, and federally required English standards as anyone else. I carry the same CDL and insurance. This isn’t about special treatment — it’s about equal treatment,” he said.
The March 6 deadline follows increased federal scrutiny of non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses, which are issued to non-U.S. citizens with lawful authorization to work in the United States.
In 2025, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration audited California’s CDL program and found that a number of licenses were issued with expiration dates extending beyond drivers’ lawful presence, which federal regulators said violated long-standing rules.
Federal officials subsequently directed California to revoke affected licenses. The state initially set a Jan. 5 cancellation deadline but later extended it to March 6 after issuing 60-day notices to roughly 17,000 drivers. Federal authorities have said the extension was made without approval from the agency.
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