The NPR article I found online reported on November 13th that California plans to revoke 17,000 commercial driver's licenses that had been issued to immigrants. This comes after an audit found that these licenses were not in accordance with state laws. The issue that came into question was that some issued licenses had expiration dates that extended beyond the period during which the drivers were legally allowed to stay in the United States. Meaning that claim about CDLs being taken away from immigrant drivers could actually be a real policy decision, not just a claim on the internet
To fact-check this, I compared NPR's story and coverage with an official press release from the U.S. Department of Transportation. Inside this DOT statement, it confirms that California has identified 17000 "non-domiciled" commercial driver's licenses, including cases where the license's expiration date extended beyond a foreign driver's work permit. Although some news outlets, such as the Associated Press, clarify that California states these drivers did have valid federal work authorizations when they received their licenses, state laws require the license to expire no later than the end of the person's legal status. There are many facets to this developing story, but both sources agree on the key claim: around 17,000 licenses are being revoked, and the reason being is that the licenses issued were conflicting with preexisting rules. However, I believe it is important to note that the DOT press release seemed to be written with a certain political agenda. It describes the people receiving the illegal licenses as "dangerous foreign drivers" and uses aggressive language like "Newsom caught red-handed" while also threatening to strip the state of federal funds. Altogether, I believe this substantial claim is accurate, though there are a lot of politics between the Trump administration and California, and other reasons that make this situation more complicated than a simple headline story.
