Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy talks crackdown on illegal immigrant CDLs

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Sean Duffy sounds off on DOT's illegal immigrant trucker crackdown, friendship with Charlie Kirk at AmericaFest

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy spoke to Fox News Digital about his special friendship with Charlie Kirk and USDOT's ongoing crackdown on illegal immigrants with non-domiciled CDL licenses and gave an update on holiday travel stats.

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PHOENIX – Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy offered an update on his agency’s work alongside the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in cracking down on an influx of illegal immigrants given a non-domiciled commercial driver's license (CDL) without proper vetting, which has led to several deaths on America’s highways.

Duffy was set to speak this weekend at AmericaFest and also touched on his special friendship with Turning Point USA (TPUSA) founder Charlie Kirk, who was murdered Sept. 10 during an event in Utah.

"First off, President [Donald] Trump has been a remarkable leader. What he cares about is making government work better, making sure he's implementing the right policies for the American people. Not the rich, not the powerful, but average, everyday Americans," Duffy said when asked about the Department of Transportation's (DOT) crackdown on the trucking crisis.

Duffy sprang into action earlier this year after an Indian national who authorities said was issued a CDL by California allegedly killed a carload of people after he attempted an illegal U-turn on Florida’s Turnpike.

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Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy speaks during a news conference.  (Rod Lamkey, Jr./AP Photos)

Duffy expanded his efforts, warning Pennsylvania’s PennDOT and other agencies after illegal immigrants captured out of state were found to have non-domiciled CDLs issued by blue state agencies. In PennDOT’s case, an agency official told Fox News Digital a Philadelphia resident named in the sweep had not drawn any red flags in a federal database it used to verify him.

"As you've seen, Homeland Security focused on the border and illegal migrants in the country. What we found at DOT is a different set of problems," Duffy said, adding that too many states have offered licenses to ineligible foreigners.

"They're not qualified to get a license. And under [former President] Joe Biden's tenure, [former Transportation Secretary] Pete Buttigieg's tenure, millions of people have come into the country. And it seems like states across the country have offered commercial driver licenses to many of those people," he said.

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"The problem is that you endanger the safety of everyday Americans who use our roadways. And, so, what we've done at DOT is say, ‘Listen, unless you comply with our rules, we are going to take money away from your state.’"

He added that DOT has pressed for compliance from problem states, sharing that California has since revoked 17,000 problematic non-domiciled CDL licenses. 

On the other side of the country, Duffy said that more than half of the non-domiciled CDLs issued by NYSDOT were "issued illegally."

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