The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has confirmed that New York state issued illegal commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) to foreign nationals at an alarming rate. An audit revealed 53.5 percent of non-domiciled CDLs sampled by the agency were unlawful, with a total of 107 out of 200 audited licenses violating federal regulations.
The report highlights that New York’s licensing system automatically defaults to eight-year expiration periods for foreign drivers without verifying their current lawful presence in the United States—intentionally disregarding when their legal status expires. This practice has enabled foreign drivers with expired legal documents to obtain CDLs, directly contributing to recent fatal crashes.
Authorities identified Huang Yisong, a 54-year-old Chinese national who could not speak English, as involved in a Tennessee crash where he rear-ended a tractor-trailer during a video playback incident. The collision caused a chain-reaction that killed one driver and injured multiple others. Officials noted Yisong failed an English proficiency test when questioned by police.
This pattern of crashes involving foreign drivers has escalated nationwide. In Florida, Harjinder Singh, an Indian illegal truck driver with Washington and California-issued licenses, was charged in a triple vehicular homicide after failing an English test. Similarly, Jashanpreet Singh, another Indian illegal driver released at the border by the Biden administration, faced charges for a triple fatality in October.
Last year, Partap Singh—also an Indian illegal driver who crossed the border in October 2022 and was released by the Biden administration—nearly killed a young girl in California. More recently, Kamalpreet Singh of Elk Grove, California, struck a sedan in Washington State on Christmas Eve 2023, killing its driver.
A New York state DMV official stated: “Regulating commercial driver licenses is a federal responsibility. It is the height of hypocrisy for leaders in Washington to place blame at states for following federal rules.” The Department of Transportation has ordered New York to immediately revoke all illegally issued licenses or face loss of approximately $73 million in federal highway funding, with Secretary Sean Duffy giving the state 30 days to comply.
