Florida’s attorney general used his appearance on a Fox News program earlier this week to announce the state was suing California and Washington in the U.S. Supreme Court for issuing of commercial driver’s licenses to people in the U.S. illegally.
Attorney General James Uthmeier discussed the lawsuit filed with the U.S. Supreme Court on Sean Hannity’s Fox News program Wednesday.
The suit alleges California and Washington have not complied with federal safety and immigration-status requirements when issuing those CDLs. Uthmeier’s suit says California and Washington “chose to ignore these standards and authorize illegal immigrants without proper training or the ability to read road signs to drive commercial motor vehicles.”
Uthmeier’s suit comes in the wake of a serious collision in early August on the Florida Turnpike. Three people died when the minivan they were in struck the trailer of a tractor-trailer making an illegal u-turn.
The driver of the truck, an Indian national who entered the U.S. illegally, had received a commercial driver’s license from California, and a previous one from Washington. California said the trucker had a legal work permit when it issued the CDL.
Shortly after the accident, Florida began using’s agricultural inspection stations to questions truckers about their English language proficiency. A new federal regulation requires truckers to be proficient in English and be able to identify highway signs.
Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy Wednesday announced the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will withhold over $40 million from California following an investigation that found the state has failed to comply with the department’s English Language Proficiency (ELP) standards, according to a statement from Duffy.
Office of Florida’s Attorney General
