By Matthew Holloway |
Federal authorities arrested 95 commercial truck drivers identified as illegal aliens during a multi-agency enforcement operation in Arizona’s Yuma Sector, with more than three-quarters carrying commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) issued by California.
The U.S. Border Patrol conducted the operation with local law enforcement partners from Aug. 10 through Aug. 14, resulting in 143 arrests involving individuals from 18 countries, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Of the 95 truck drivers arrested, 76 possessed California CDLs, while six held licenses issued by New York. CBP said the remaining licenses came from other states but did not identify them individually.
The operation also intercepted two human-smuggling attempts, resulting in the arrest of four alleged smugglers and 17 smuggled aliens. Agents seized a firearm, 74 pounds of methamphetamine, and 169 pounds of marijuana.
Acting Chief Patrol Agent Dustin W. Caudle of the U.S. Border Patrol’s Yuma Sector said the agency is targeting threats involving improperly qualified commercial drivers as well as criminal organizations engaged in drug and human smuggling.
“We are committed to protecting our citizens from all international threats,” Caudle said, “whether that is from unlicensed or untrained drivers, or transnational criminal organizations engaged in human or drug trafficking.”
Fox News first reported the arrests Monday morning, before CBP publicly released the operation’s results.
The arrests come amid increased federal scrutiny of state commercial licensing programs for foreign nationals and follow an August report by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) examining the issuance of non-domiciled CDLs nationwide.
FAIR reported that California issued more than 128,000 non-domiciled CDLs between January 2022 and September 2025, more than doubling the state’s annual issuance during that period, and that in 2025 at least 17 fatal crashes involving foreign national CDL holders cost more than 30 Americans their lives.
A non-domiciled CDL is a separate category of commercial license available under federal law to certain foreign nationals and is not synonymous with a license issued to an illegal alien. Under current federal regulations, foreign-domiciled applicants for a non-domiciled CDL must be lawfully present in the United States under specified employment-based nonimmigrant visa categories.
FAIR’s report found California allowed CDL knowledge examinations in Arabic, Chinese, Punjabi, Russian, and Spanish. According to data cited in the organization’s 31-page investigative report, first-attempt pass rates were 22 percent for applicants taking the test in Arabic and 26 percent for Punjabi, compared with 63 percent for applicants testing in English.
“Our investigation—powered by public records, litigation against New York’s stonewalling, and analysis of FMCSA’s own audits—lays bare systemic noncompliance on a massive scale,” Mateo Forero, FAIR’s director of investigations, said. “California’s 128,000-plus non-domiciled CDLs and abysmal foreign-language pass rates, the multi-state practice of issuing licenses beyond lawful presence, and the growing list of preventable deaths make clear that temporary executive fixes are not enough. Only permanent statutory reform can restore the integrity of the CDL program and protect every American driver.”
Federal regulators separately identified problems with California’s non-domiciled CDL program during a 2025 review.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) found that approximately 25 percent of the California records sampled during its review failed to comply with federal requirements.
FMCSA found that California issued some commercial licenses with expiration dates extending beyond the expiration of drivers’ lawful-presence documents. Regulators also found licenses issued to Mexican nationals who were ineligible under the applicable federal rules and found that some temporary commercial credentials were issued without first validating lawful presence or reporting the licenses to the national Commercial Driver’s License Information System.
California informed federal regulators in late 2025 that it had begun proceedings to rescind approximately 17,000 noncompliant licenses. FMCSA subsequently determined California had failed to complete the corrective actions on the agreed schedule and withheld approximately $160 million in federal highway funding in January.
The California DMV later said that, effective March 6, the federal government required it to cancel approximately 13,000 non-domiciled CDLs. The state agency said all affected drivers had federal work authorization and were legally present when their licenses were originally issued. California DMV also said it had sought permission to issue corrected licenses to drivers who remained eligible.
New York has faced similar federal enforcement. An FMCSA audit found 107 of 200 sampled non-domiciled CDL records were issued in violation of federal requirements, a failure rate of more than 53 percent.
The agency found New York’s licensing system routinely issued eight-year non-REAL ID commercial licenses without limiting their expiration dates to the period during which the foreign driver was lawfully present in the United States. FMCSA withheld more than $73 million from New York in April after concluding the state had failed to complete required corrective actions.
Federal rules governing non-domiciled commercial licenses were tightened this year. An FMCSA final rule, effective March 16, limits eligibility to foreign nationals lawfully present in the United States under H-2A temporary agricultural worker, H-2B temporary non-agricultural worker, or E-2 treaty investor status.
The regulations also require states to verify an applicant’s immigration status and require states unable to comply with the new standards to halt issuance of non-domiciled commercial licenses until their systems meet federal requirements.
The Yuma Sector arrests are the latest enforcement action involving commercial drivers as federal transportation and immigration authorities increase scrutiny of the licensing and employment of foreign nationals operating commercial vehicles on U.S. highways.
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
