Texas Revokes 6,407 Foreign Trucker Licenses After Federal Audit

Texas has revoked 6,407 non-domiciled commercial driver licenses held by foreign truckers after federal auditors found the state issued noncompliant licenses, according to Transport Topics. The Texas Department of Public Safety sent CDL downgrade notices to those drivers, who can still operate noncommercial vehicles but lost their commercial driving privileges. The revocations stem from a corrective action plan ordered after the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration found a 49% failure rate in a sample of the 9,600 valid non-domiciled CDLs and commercial learner's permits issued by Texas DPS. The failures included at least one case where a foreign driver involved in a March 2025 crash near Austin that killed five people was erroneously issued a regular CDL instead of a non-domiciled one. FMCSA Deputy Administrator Jesse Elison issued a noncompliance notice to Governor Greg Abbott and DPS Director Freeman Martin in October. The agency ordered Texas to complete eight corrective actions or face losing $182.5 million in federal fiscal 2027 funding from highway safety programs. Continued noncompliance could cost the state up to $365 million annually in subsequent years. Texas has now resumed limited issuance of non-domiciled CDLs and commercial learner permits for H-2A workers under tighter federal guidelines that took effect in March 2026. The move comes after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy ordered a nationwide halt on non-domiciled licensing pending a federal audit, prompted by crashes involving foreign truckers.