Migrant truckers sue California DMV over canceled commercial drivers’ licenses
The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) is facing a lawsuit on behalf of nearly 20,000 immigrant truckers over plans to revoke their commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs).
The Asian Law Caucus and the Sikh Coalition, along with the law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, filed the suit Tuesday to stop the DMV from canceling the licenses, which the complaint says could trigger “mass work stoppages” starting January 5, 2026.
“This class-action lawsuit is brought on behalf of the Jakara Movement and five commercial drivers who have been deprived of their rights and livelihoods,” a joint statement from the Asian Law Caucus and Sikh Coalition said. “California officials publicly stated that licenses would begin to be reissued on December 17, but as of now, the state has neither reissued any of the contested licenses nor created a process to address the issue before January 5.”
The lawsuit states that on November 6, the DMV notified 17,299 immigrant drivers and business owners that their non-domiciled CDLs would be canceled on January 5, 2026, due to an error in the licenses’ expiration dates. A similar notice went to 2,700 more drivers in December, informing them that their licenses would be canceled in mid-February.
According to the lawsuit, California law requires the DMV to set a CDL’s expiration date to match the driver’s work authorization or legal presence documents. However, the suit alleges that the DMV failed to follow these procedures, instead attempting to cancel nearly 20,000 licenses “without affording any opportunity to obtain a corrected license or to contest the cancellation.”
The lawsuit also points out that the DMV did not consistently ensure that a CDL’s expiration date matched the end of a person’s period of work authorization or lawful presence.
In November, after a dispute between the federal government and California, the Department of Transportation (DOT) announced that the state planned to revoke 17,000 non-domiciled CDLs. California Governor Gavin Newsom’s office disputed the DOT’s claim that the state had “admitted to illegally issuing” the licenses.
The lawsuit notes that the cancellation of these licenses could have widespread effects, since these drivers provide essential services, including transporting food, driving children to school, and delivering goods. “The sudden loss of their ability to work threatens not only their livelihoods but also the stability of our supply chains and services on which the public depends,” the filing states.
The lawsuit includes individual examples of affected drivers. In one case, a plaintiff received a cancellation notice even though his CDL matched his work authorization. Another Jakara Movement member reported being pressured to surrender his CDL at a DMV office for fear of losing his non-commercial license.
The filing asks the court to issue an injunction requiring the DMV to allow the plaintiffs and others in the class action to obtain corrected CDLs “without interruption to their driving privileges.”
The Trump administration had previously launched a crackdown on the CDL issuing process as part of broader efforts to address illegal immigration, following several fatal crashes involving non-domiciled CDL holders.
The California DMV and Governor Newsom’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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