Newsom's state 'caught red-handed' illegally issuing thousands of commercial driver’s licenses to foreign truckers: DOT

California illegally issued thousands of commercial driver's licenses, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

A Wednesday morning press release from the department claimed that the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles “has admitted to illegally issuing 17,000 non-domiciled Commercial Driver’s Licenses (CDLs) to dangerous foreign drivers.”

'This is just the tip of the iceberg.'

Those who were issued the allegedly illegal licenses have been notified that those licenses no longer meet federal requirements and will expire in 60 days.

The DOT credited the findings to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s ongoing nationwide audit of non-domiciled CDLs. The review revealed “systemic policy, procedural, and programming errors in California’s non-domiciled CDL program,” the department reported.

“The audit also found that more than one in four of the non-domiciled CDL records sampled in California failed to comply with federal regulations. This includes issuing licenses that extended well beyond a foreigner’s work permit,” the DOT wrote.

RELATED: Exclusive: DOT withholds $40M from blue state for flouting English requirements for truckers

Sean Duffy. Photographer: Francis Chung/Politico/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The department threatened in August to withhold funding from California if it refused to comply with English language proficiency requirements for truck drivers.

The California Highway Patrol indicated in July that it had no plans to place commercial drivers out of service for failing to meet ELP standards.

In October, the DOT announced that it was withholding $40 million from the blue state.

RELATED: The fraud crippling American trucking: 'Ghost' carriers and 'NO NAME GIVEN' driver's licenses issued to foreigners

Photographer: Shelby Tauber/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The DOT stated that it will continue to pressure California to revoke illegally issued non-domiciled CDLs, noting that it is prepared to withhold $160 million in funding for noncompliance.

“After weeks of claiming they did nothing wrong, Gavin Newsom and California have been caught red-handed. Now that we’ve exposed their lies, 17,000 illegally issued trucking licenses are being revoked,” Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said. “This is just the tip of the iceberg. My team will continue to force California to prove they have removed every illegal immigrant from behind the wheel of semitrucks and school buses.”

“Once again, the [sic] Sean ‘Road Rules’ Duffy fails to share the truth — spreading easily disproven falsehoods in a sad and desperate attempt to please his dear leader,” a spokesperson for Newsom told Blaze News.

The California DMV did not respond to Blaze News' request for comment.

Editor’s note: This article has been edited after publication to include a statement from a spokesperson for Newsom.

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