Summary
A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., has stopped new rules by the Transportation Department that would limit immigrants' ability to get commercial driver's licenses. The court says the government didn't follow the right process to make these rules and didn't explain how they would improve safety. The proposed rules would have mostly affected immigrants with specific work visas.
Key Facts
- A federal court blocked new Transportation Department rules for immigrant commercial drivers.
- The court said the government did not follow correct procedures when creating these rules.
- Data shows that immigrants with commercial licenses make up about 0.2% of fatal crashes, although they hold 5% of such licenses.
- The rules would have limited licenses to immigrants with specific visas, affecting only 10,000 out of 200,000 immigrant drivers.
- The crash that prompted the rule changes involved a driver in the U.S. illegally and raised safety concerns.
- California recently revoked 17,000 licenses issued to immigrants due to expired work permits.
- The new rules were not retroactive, meaning existing licenses wouldn't be affected until renewal.
- A bill in Congress is trying to make the new rules permanent law.
