The Trump administration is withholding $40.6 million in transportation funding from California after an investigation found that the state failed to comply with the federal English language proficiency requirement for truck drivers, officials announced on Oct. 15.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will keep $40.7 million in federal grant funding for California from the Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program (MCSAP). The funding is awarded to states to conduct roadside inspections, traffic enforcement, safety audits of trucking companies, and public education campaigns.
“The Golden State thinks it’s OK to ignore [the U.S. Department of Transportation’s] English language requirements for truckers,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy posted on X. “You can play all the games you want, but not at the expense of American lives.”
Duffy announced this summer that he would enforce the Trump administration’s new English language requirements for truck drivers, threatening to withhold the grant funds for states that did not meet the standards.
California, Washington, and New Mexico were given until Sept. 26 to comply with new federal rules requiring truck drivers to be proficient in the English language. States that failed to comply were told that they risked losing up to 100 percent of their MCSAP grants.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s spokeswoman, Diana Crofts-Pelayo, denied the federal government’s accusations.
“Sounds like the federal Secretary of Transportation needs a lesson on his own road rules,” Crofts-Pelayo told The Epoch Times in an email, saying California’s licensed commercial drivers had a fatal crash rate nearly 40 percent lower than the national average.
California’s transportation agency wrote a detailed letter to the U.S. Transportation Department on Sept. 25, stating that they were complying with federal laws and regulations, including the English language proficiency requirement.
“California law ... includes an independent requirement of English language proficiency for commercial drivers,” the letter reads. “Moreover, under California regulations, the entire commercial vehicle road test must be conducted in English.”
Recent Arrests
The issue of foreign-language speaking truck drivers emerged earlier this year after an Indian national, Harjinder Singh, was accused of killing three people in Florida after allegedly making an illegal U-turn on Aug. 12.
Singh was issued a commercial driver’s license in July 2024 by California, despite being in the country illegally. He also had obtained a full-term commercial driver’s license in Washington state in July 2023. Singh did not pass English-language and road tests, officials said.
Federal immigration officials also arrested several illegal immigrants with commercial truck drivers on Oct. 14 in an operation across Oklahoma. At least 91 of those arrested had a commercial driver’s license—with 44 of them issued by California—and were operating a commercial vehicle, according to federal authorities.
Harjinder Singh is escorted to an airplane by Florida Lt. Gov. Jay Collins and law enforcement in Stockton, Calif., on Aug. 21, 2025. (Benjamin Fanjoy/AP Photo)
The Trump administration also paused the issuance of all worker visas for commercial truck drivers on Aug. 21, stating that the increasing number of foreign drivers was “endangering American lives” and undercutting jobs for American truckers.
California made some changes after Duffy’s threat to withhold federal funding over the English language rules this summer.
Starting on Sept. 29, California’s Department of Transportation issued an emergency ruling that prohibits the state from issuing or renewing limited-term legal commercial driver’s licenses to noncitizens. The rule applies to people who are legally in the United States but are not permanent residents or citizens. That includes people with certain work visas and approved or pending asylees and refugees.
Drivers in trucks enter the United States at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry, on the U.S.–Mexico border in San Diego on Feb. 1, 2025. (Apu Gomes/Getty Images)
Duffy said California is the only state in the nation that refuses to ensure that truck drivers can read road signs and communicate with law enforcement.
“This is a fundamental safety issue that impacts you and your family on America’s [roads],” he said in a statement. “Let me be clear—this is valuable money that should be going to the great men and women in California law enforcement, who we support. Gov. Newsom’s insistence on obstructing federal law has tied my hands.”
To restore the funding, California is required to adopt and actively enforce a law, regulation, standard, or order that meets the federal English language requirement for commercial drivers, according to Duffy.
State inspectors are also required to conduct English Language proficiency assessments during roadside inspections and sideline drivers who fail the test.
The department is conducting a nationwide audit of non-domiciled commercial driver’s license issuance.
