Rights groups file plea for pause on cancellations of US commercial driver licences

Bathinda: Finding inconsistencies in the court order, which stopped short of a pause on cancellations of licences, the legal representatives for a class of commercial drivers have filed an motion for an emergency order directing the California Department of Motor Vehicles (CA-DMV) to pause its cancellations of commercial driver's licences (CDLs) set to occur on March 6 (in the US). Close to 20,000 drivers, who cannot do their job without a valid CDL, will find their occupations and income in jeopardy. Earlier this week, the Superior Court of California, Alameda County, ruled that the CA-DMV must provide a process that allows drivers with cancelled licences to immediately reapply. Drivers since received confusing and inconsistent information from CA-DMV, which showed that a pause was necessary to protect drivers from an indefinite period of job loss. Since the decision, drivers scrambled to understand their options with just 1 day before the scheduled licence revocations. Without immediate protection, drivers will bear the brunt of the CA-DMV's own bureaucratic error. The legal challenge brought on Thursday (in the US) by Asian Law Caucus, Sikh Coalition, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP on behalf of a class of drivers and Jakara Movement followed a class action filed by the groups in December 2025.
"The people that keep California's economy moving deserve better than the chaos of the last several months," said Munmeeth Kaur, Sikh Coalition legal director. "We're seeking this order to stop the DMV from forcing thousands of qualified drivers off the road and ensure compliance with the court's previous order. In short, the DMV should be clarifying their processes and fixing their errors—not inflicting economic hardship on our communities." "Immigrant drivers have been living with uncertainty since these letters went out, and cancelling their CDLs on March 6 will only deepen the hardship for working families," said Deep Singh, executive director of Jakara Movement. "For many drivers, this is how they put food on the table. Since the California DMV didn't provide a fair or clear process, we're turning to the courts for emergency relief and remain hopeful they will step in to protect these workers.""Thousands of drivers are about to lose their livelihoods because of the state's own mistake—and that is unacceptable. Drivers are fed up and scared, and we are seeking an emergency order to ensure that drivers can still wake up and do their jobs on March 7," said Katherine Zhao, senior staff attorney at Asian Law Caucus. "These workers did everything the law required of them, yet they're the ones being punished for a bureaucratic failure they didn't create. The state cannot rip away people's licences first and figure out a fix later. These cancellations must be stopped now." MSID: 129156893 413 |