Back in December, the Department of Transportation (DOT) threatened to pull $73 million from the state of New York after an audit revealed more than half of the state's commercial driver's licenses (CDLs) went to illegal immigrants. At the time, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said New York had 30 days to comply with rules or lose the tens of millions of federal dollars.
They have not, and yesterday Duffy announced the DOT was pulling the $73 million from the state of New York.
Kathy Hochul claimed New York followed the rules when issuing licenses to foreign truck drivers…
— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) April 16, 2026
WRONG ❌⁰⁰Here’s the truth: New York gave licenses to foreigners valid years beyond their work authorizations!
That’s why today @USDOT is pulling $73 million from Hochul’s New… pic.twitter.com/2LU43Zc7eh
"The response from Kathy Hochul and New York was, 'Listen, we didn't do anything wrong. We followed the rules,'" Duffy said. "But the truth is they actually gave commercial driver's licenses to people who were in the country illegally and, to your point, they've given an eight-year license to someone who might only be legally in the country for another three or four months."
"And so this was actually brought up to Kathy Hochul in December," Duffy continued, "I don't want to pull money from New York. I want to work with New York, I want them to follow the rules in New York. They completely rejected our offer to cooperate and so that's step one. We pulled $73 million. We pulled that today and then, looking forward, if they don't get into compliance there's additional traches of money."
New York also issued CDLs to immigrants who refused to give their names. I distinctly recall a NY driver's license shared on X with the name "No name given"
— § (@spaethon) April 16, 2026
This should never be allowed.
An illegal that could not speak English with a New York drivers license hit my car and totaled it. He had relocated to my state to live he had only had his drivers license for 30 days. They are getting licenses there and relocating to other states
— Dayton1979 (@Dayton1979) April 17, 2026
Hochul's polices .
FAFO.
— D Mc (@Dvmcmr) April 17, 2026
Hochul thinks she can continue the corrupt practices of the past .
She's learning that she is quite wrong.
$73 million now being witheld from NY for violating the rules. https://t.co/GuoxPMvaKe
And more should be withheld for continued non-compliance, from New York and any other state that doesn't follow federal law.