Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and President Trump commented on the illegally issued licenses to undocumented immigrant drivers.
President Trump’s administration threatened to withhold $75 million in funding from Pennsylvania over a scandal relating to the state’s alleged improper issuances of driver’s licenses to illegal immigrant truck drivers. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, in comments to the media on Thursday, issued an ultimatum to the state to either revoke the licenses immediately, or face financial consequences. The President previously ordered Duffy to take similar actions against California earlier this month.
The scandal became a point of concern for the Trump administration in August, after a tractor-trailer operated by an undocumented immigrant crashed in Florida while making an illegal U-turn, killing three people. It’s unclear how many illegal licenses are currently in question in Pennsylvania, but California revoked 17,000 IDs on Nov. 13, months after the state was initially contacted by Duffy’s agency.
A spokesperson for the Trump administration pointed to records from the Transportation Agency showing 2 out of every 150 drivers in Pennsylvania had either entered the country illegally, or exceeded their initial visa length. In a letter sent Wednesday from Secretary Duffy, the administration argued Pennsylvania officials failed to provide any evidence the state required any legitimate proof of citizenship documentation at the time of issuance. The letter further called on Gov. Josh Shapiro to immediately revoke all improper licenses and cease issuing new or pending IDs while the state is being reviewed.
The move by President Trump to withhold funding from Pennsylvania comes after Akhror Bozorov, an illegal immigrant from Uzbekistan, was arrested on terror charges in Kansas while in possession of a licensed PennDOT ID. Pennsylvania State Sen. Jarrett Coleman (R-Allentown), released to the public a letter his office sent to Gov. Shapiro warning of increasing issues of similar incidents.
As of Thursday, Shapiro’s office had not responded to State Sen. Coleman’s letter, but acknowledged the state’s contact with President Trump. The Pennsylvania governor alleged it was the Trump administration’s fault that Bozorov’s name remained in error on a federal database of non-citizens with work permits in Pennsylvania, and did not provide evidence that Bozorov was in the country illegally when he obtained his PennDOT license.
In a statement from Secretary Duffy on Thursday, he called on Shapiro to remove “ineligible foreigners without verifiable legal status” from the state’s eligible drivers list, and to ensure that no illegal immigrants operate oversized vehicles that the administration argued was “a threat to Americans on American roads.”
The federal government further confirmed that of the illegally issued licenses, the administration is tracking specifically at least 150 cases of commercial truck driver’s licenses being issued to undocumented immigrants, which Secretary Duffy confirmed was his primary concern. A spokesperson from PennDOT responded to Duffy’s comments, saying all non-citizens applying for a license must provide “proof of identification and their legal presence” in the country at the time of receiving the license. It’s unclear whether Gov. Shapiro and PennDOT plan to comply with Trump’s order, or where in the budget the $75 million would be withheld.
