California: A group of immigrant truck drivers on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), alleging that the state violated the rights of thousands of workers by moving to revoke their commercial driver’s licences.
California officials said last month that nearly 17,000 truck drivers had been informed that their commercial driver’s licences would be revoked after licence expiration dates were extended beyond the period the drivers were legally permitted to remain in the United States.
The move came as the Trump administration tightened restrictions on states issuing licences to immigrants. The federal government has threatened to withhold funding from California, Pennsylvania, Minnesota and New York over the issue.
The Sikh Coalition, a national organisation advocating for Sikh civil rights, along with the San Francisco-based Asian Law Caucus, filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of the affected California drivers.
“These drivers have spent many years of their lives engaged in these occupations but now they are facing potential economic ruin for no fault of their own. They deserve better and California should do better,” Manmeet Kaur, legal director of the Sikh Coalition, said in a statement.
