CEDAR CITY, Utah (KUTV) — A new emergency plan from the U.S. Secretary of Transportation has put a temporary hold on the issuance and renewal of commercial driver’s licenses nationwide.
As a result, states are required to review their licensing systems, leaving many lawful non-citizens uncertain about their ability to continue working.
“I have to keep driving in a country that doesn’t really want me here,” expressed Jorge Rivera, a truck driver from Enoch, who is among around 580,000 individuals nationally benefitting from DACA—an initiative allowing immigrants who entered the U.S. as children to live and work legally. Rivera’s parents moved from Mexico to the U.S. when he was just two years old.
DACA, or “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals,” offers temporary protection against deportation and work authorization but does not provide a path to citizenship. Recipients must renew their status every two years and risk losing eligibility if convicted of misdemeanors or more severe crimes, as noted by immigration attorney Carlos Trujillo.
Trujillo stated that DACA is “hanging by a thread,” with courts halting new applications, leaving only current beneficiaries eligible for renewal. “One can go to bed a DACA recipient and wake up without any protection,” he said, illustrating the anxiety surrounding the program’s precarious future.
Rivera resonates with this fear. “I pay my taxes, and I don’t receive benefits or healthcare. I’m just trying to provide for my family,” he stated. Due to his temporary status, Rivera’s driver’s license is categorized under limited-term CDLs, preventing him from renewing until the ban is lifted, which could jeopardize his job if his license expires during this audit.
While the Trump Administration claims this emergency action is intended to enhance road safety by limiting commercial licenses to citizens, immigrants’ rights advocates argue it unfairly impacts compliant individuals. Trujillo believes that this order essentially targets all immigrants, both legal and undocumented, and he anticipates potential legal challenges against restricting CDLs to citizens.
