Bathinda: The much-awaited ruling regarding the fate of nearly 20,000 immigrant truckers in California was issued on Tuesday by the Superior Court of Alameda county.The decision affects drivers in different ways depending on their documentation status. For drivers whose commercial driver’s licences (CDLs) expiration date matches the expiration of their work authorisation, the court ordered the California DMV to create a process to prevent the wrongful cancellation of their licences before the March 6 deadline. For those who are still legally authorised to work but have mismatched expiration dates, the DMV must establish a process allowing them to immediately reapply if their licences are cancelled on Friday. The class action lawsuit was filed in Dec 2025 by the Sikh Coalition, Asian Law Caucus, and Weil, Gotshal and Manges LLP. The legal challenge arose after the DMV planned to cancel the licences of approximately 20,000 drivers who remain legally authorised to work in the US. Under the new court order, the DMV is required to post information about the right to reapply on its website and sent explanatory letters to all affected drivers within two weeks. Furthermore, the court specified that these licences must be re-issued to qualified drivers within a reasonable timeframe following reapplication. While the ruling provides some relief, advocacy groups have identified a critical gap: the order does not actually pause or delay the planned March 6 cancellations. This means thousands of truckers may still face immediate disruptions to their livelihoods while the DMV works to implement the court-ordered processes. MSID:: 129092415 413 |
