/images/ppid_59c68470-image-17667425948112085.webp)
What is the story about?
Thousands of immigrant truck drivers, including many Punjabi Sikhs, are facing the loss of their livelihoods in California. But they are fighting back.
A class-action lawsuit filed this week challenges the California Department of Motor Vehicles’ decision to cancel commercial driver’s licences issued to immigrant truckers after a federal audit flagged clerical problems tied to immigration paperwork and licence expiry dates.
What does the lawsuit argue
The lawsuit argues the state’s response went too far. And too fast.
What triggered the DMV cancellations
On November 6, the California DMV sent 60-day cancellation notices to roughly 17,000 commercial drivers.
That number has since grown beyond 20,000.
The notices followed a federal review that found some licences were set to expire later than the drivers’ legal authorisation to remain in the United States. The issue, the lawsuit claims, stemmed from administrative mismatches, not fraud, unsafe driving, or criminal conduct.
Under California law, the suit argues, the DMV is required to correct those errors or allow drivers to reapply with updated documents - not terminate licences outright.
Instead, drivers were told their credentials would be cancelled and that the state was no longer issuing or renewing non-resident commercial licences. That meant no work. No income. And no timeline for resolution.
Who filed the lawsuit and why
The case was filed by the Sikh Coalition and the Asian Law Caucus on behalf of five affected drivers, seeking class-action status for the broader group.
“The state of California must help these 20,000 drivers because, at the end of the day, the clerical errors threatening their livelihoods are of the CA-DMV’s own making,” Munmeeth Kaur, legal director of the Sikh Coalition, said in his statement.
The groups are asking the court to block the cancellations and require the DMV to provide a path to correction or reapplication.
Without that, they warn, thousands of families lose their primary income - and supply chains feel the impact next.
Why Punjabi Sikh truckers are central to this
Punjabi Sikh immigrants have become a major part of the US trucking workforce. Roughly 150,000 of them work in trucking nationwide, and many are based on the West Coast.
That visibility has also brought scrutiny.
Earlier this year, a crash involving a Punjabi Sikh driver in Florida reignited political pressure on immigrant trucking programs. A federal crackdown followed. Seven states were flagged. California was singled out.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy accused the state of issuing licences to drivers his department considers unqualified, per NBC reports.
Los Angeles Times reported that these changes could push more than 400,000 drivers out of the market over the next three years, according to JB Hunt.
For now, the court will decide whether the cancellations pause. If not, the lawsuit says, the damage becomes permanent before the case is even heard.
A class-action lawsuit filed this week challenges the California Department of Motor Vehicles’ decision to cancel commercial driver’s licences issued to immigrant truckers after a federal audit flagged clerical problems tied to immigration paperwork and licence expiry dates.
What does the lawsuit argue
The lawsuit argues the state’s response went too far. And too fast.
What triggered the DMV cancellations
On November 6, the California DMV sent 60-day cancellation notices to roughly 17,000 commercial drivers.
That number has since grown beyond 20,000.
The notices followed a federal review that found some licences were set to expire later than the drivers’ legal authorisation to remain in the United States. The issue, the lawsuit claims, stemmed from administrative mismatches, not fraud, unsafe driving, or criminal conduct.
Under California law, the suit argues, the DMV is required to correct those errors or allow drivers to reapply with updated documents - not terminate licences outright.
Instead, drivers were told their credentials would be cancelled and that the state was no longer issuing or renewing non-resident commercial licences. That meant no work. No income. And no timeline for resolution.
Who filed the lawsuit and why
The case was filed by the Sikh Coalition and the Asian Law Caucus on behalf of five affected drivers, seeking class-action status for the broader group.
“The state of California must help these 20,000 drivers because, at the end of the day, the clerical errors threatening their livelihoods are of the CA-DMV’s own making,” Munmeeth Kaur, legal director of the Sikh Coalition, said in his statement.
The groups are asking the court to block the cancellations and require the DMV to provide a path to correction or reapplication.
Without that, they warn, thousands of families lose their primary income - and supply chains feel the impact next.
Why Punjabi Sikh truckers are central to this
Punjabi Sikh immigrants have become a major part of the US trucking workforce. Roughly 150,000 of them work in trucking nationwide, and many are based on the West Coast.
That visibility has also brought scrutiny.
Earlier this year, a crash involving a Punjabi Sikh driver in Florida reignited political pressure on immigrant trucking programs. A federal crackdown followed. Seven states were flagged. California was singled out.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy accused the state of issuing licences to drivers his department considers unqualified, per NBC reports.
Los Angeles Times reported that these changes could push more than 400,000 drivers out of the market over the next three years, according to JB Hunt.
For now, the court will decide whether the cancellations pause. If not, the lawsuit says, the damage becomes permanent before the case is even heard.
/images/ppid_a911dc6a-image-176662723505012615.webp)
/images/ppid_a911dc6a-image-176659282621973323.webp)
/images/ppid_a911dc6a-image-176671883440198329.webp)
/images/ppid_59c68470-image-17664775327459387.webp)
/images/ppid_59c68470-image-176648507365226935.webp)
/images/ppid_59c68470-image-176646756541493230.webp)
