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Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Monday that the state could lose more than $30 million in federal highway funding if it does not revoke commercial driver’s licenses that federal officials say were issued illegally to non-citizens.
“It just keeps getting worse for @GovTimWalz,” Duffy wrote on X. “Just one day after 400 BRAVE employees from @MinnesotaDHS exposed ‘massive fraud,’ @USDOT has discovered that ONE THIRD of non-domiciled CDLs were issued ILLEGALLY in the state. MINNESOTA: You’re on notice. You have 30 days to fix this or lose $30 million in federal funding.”
The warning followed a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration audit that found Minnesota had improperly issued a significant share of its non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses. In a Daily Wire interview, Duffy said the findings showed “yet another example of foreigners taking advantage of Minnesota services under Governor Walz’s watch,” adding that the state “illegally doled out trucking licenses to unsafe, unqualified non-citizens.”
“The Department will withhold funding if Minnesota continues this reckless behavior that puts non-citizens gaming the system ahead of the safety of Americans,” he said.
According to a letter sent to Walz, federal officials said Minnesota issued licenses to individuals whose lawful presence had expired and to applicants prohibited from holding non-domiciled commercial licenses. The audit also found cases in which state officials failed to verify applicants’ lawful presence.
The Transportation Department directed Minnesota to halt further issuance of non-domiciled commercial licenses, identify and revoke all unexpired licenses that do not meet federal standards, reissue compliant credentials, and conduct an internal review to determine how the violations occurred.
“Minnesota is openly and blatantly defying our rules, plain and simple,” said Derek Barrs of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. “Under the Trump Administration, states have two choices: meet our standards or face the consequences. Following the law is not optional.”
The controversy is part of a larger nationwide effort by the Trump administration to end the practice by many states that have allowed non-citizens or non-English speakers to obtain a commercial driver’s license, including multiple high-profile cases of deadly crashes involving such individuals in recent months.
