Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Wednesday he will withhold $40 million from California because it is the only state that is failing to enforce English language requirements for truckers.
An investigation launched after a deadly Florida crash involving a foreign truck driver who made an illegal U-turn on Aug. 12 found what Duffy called significant failures in the way California is enforcing rules that took effect in June after one of President Donald Trump’s executive orders. California had issued the driver a commercial license, but these English rules predate the crash.
Truckers are supposed to be disqualified if they can’t demonstrate English proficiency, and Duffy said the driver involved in the crash should not have been given a commercial license because of his immigration status. The crash has become increasingly political, with the governors of California and Florida criticizing each other and Duffy highlighting the administration’s immigration concerns in interviews.
“California is the only state in the nation that refuses to ensure big rig drivers can read our road signs and communicate with law enforcement. This is a fundamental safety issue that impacts you and your family on America’s road,” Duffy said.
California defended its practices in a formal response to the Transportation Department last month, but federal officials weren't satisfied.
The office of California Gov. Gavin Newsom quickly pushed back after the announcement Wednesday. Diana Crofts-Pelayo, a spokesperson for the governor, said statistics show that California commercial truck drivers have a lower crash rate than the national average.
But Duffy said when he announced his concerns in August that California had conducted roughly 34,000 inspections that found at least one violation since the new language standards took effect. But only one inspection involved an English language rules violation that resulted in a driver being taken out of service. And 23 drivers with violations in other states were allowed to continue driving after inspections in California.
The Transportation Department said that to get this funding reinstated, California must adopt regulations to enforce the English rules and ensure that state inspectors are testing truck drivers' English skills during roadside inspections and pulling anyone that fails out of service.
In addition to this English language issue, Duffy has threatened to pull another $160 million from California because of the way the state issues commercial drivers licenses. Duffy significantly restricted who can qualify for those licenses last month.
Three people died when truck driver Harjinder Singh made an illegal U-turn on a highway about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of West Palm Beach and a minivan slammed into his trailer, according to Florida’s Highway Patrol. Singh and his passenger were not injured.
He is being held without bond after being charged with three state counts of vehicular homicide and immigration violations. His lawyer has previously declined to comment on the case.
The crash received intense scrutiny because of questions about Singh's immigration status and because investigators said he failed an English proficiency test afterward. Duffy and Florida officials blamed California as well as Washington state for issuing him a commercial driver's license.
But California officials said he had a valid work permit at the time. And New Mexico released video of a traffic stop that showed Singh communicating with an officer effectively after he was pulled over there in July.
Duffy, President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have all be trading barbs with Newsom over the crash and whether Singh should have been driving a truck.
Newsom’s office said California followed all the rules when it issued a license for Singh in July 2024, while the federal government confirmed at that time that he was in the country legally.
Duffy and Florida authorities have said Singh, who is from India, entered the country illegally from Mexico in 2018.
FILE - Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy speaks during a news conference Aug. 5, 2025, at the Department of Transportation in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)
MONGKOL BOREY, Cambodia (AP) — Heavy combat between Thailand and Cambodia entered a second week on Monday, with Phnom Penh claiming that Thai bombing is hitting deeper into its territory, coming close to shelters for people who had already fled dangerous areas along the border.
According to Cambodia’s defense and information ministries, Thai F-16 fighter jets dropped two bombs shortly after 10 a.m. near camps for displaced people in Oddar Meanchey and Siem Reap provinces.
The bombing in Siem Reap's Srei Snam district, more than 70 kilometers (43 miles) inside Cambodian territory, targeted a bridge, Cambodian authorities said. The province is home to the world-famous Angkor Wat temple complex, a UNESCO World Heritage site and the country’s biggest tourist attraction.
Asked about the attack at a news conference, Thailand's Air Marshal Jackkrit Thammavichai, spokesperson of the air force, offered an oblique confirmation of the bombing.
“According to the international law and the rules of engagement, a military target is not defined based on the distance from the border," he said. “It’s actually defined based on the characteristic and objective of the use of that facility for military purposes.”
He said Thailand's air force abides by international law by not targeting civilians and that Monday's operation didn’t impact Cambodian civilians nearby.
Access to the combat zone and nearby areas is limited, so few claims by either side can be independently verified.
The two sides are battling over longstanding competing claims to patches of frontier land, some of which contain centuries-old temple ruins.
More than two dozen people on both sides of the border have officially been reported killed in the past week’s fighting, while more than half a million have been displaced, according to officials.
Thai officials issued an estimate of what damage has been inflicted on Cambodia’s military since a skirmish on Dec. 7 that wounded two Thai soldiers ignited large-scale fighting. They said Cambodian losses included 12 tanks, 10 armored vehicles, four anti-aircraft artillery systems, seven artillery pieces, five anti-drone systems, 175 drones, five communication hubs and one BM-21 mobile rocket launcher.
Thailand says Cambodia has fired thousands of rockets from the truck-mounted BM-21 launchers, which have a range of 30-40 kilometers (19-25 miles) and can fire up to 40 projectiles at a time.
Thailand’s government announced on Sunday that a rocket attack from Cambodia had killed a 63-year-old villager, its first civilian death reported as a direct result of combat.
Col. Ritcha Suksuwanon, a Thai army deputy spokesperson, said on Sunday that an intact Chinese GAM-102LR guided anti-tank missile system was seized. Thailand estimates among Cambodia’s losses some 82 military positions and 505 Cambodian military personnel reportedly killed.
Cambodia has dismissed as disinformation previous Thai estimates of its military death toll but has not released its own figures. Thailand acknowledges the deaths of 16 of its troops.
Phnom Penh said Monday that 15 civilians have been killed and 73 wounded.
Thai officials also said they were trying to cut off the supply of fuel and weapons to Cambodia, but denied reports that a full-scale naval blockade would be mounted. Capt. Nara Khunkothom, assistant spokesperson for the Thai navy, said only Thai-registered vessels would be subject to their controls in what they have officially designated a “high-risk area” in the Gulf of Thailand.
Officials also said fuel and weapons would no longer be allowed to go through a major land checkpoint to neighboring Laos that is close to Cambodian territory, declaring that military supplies and logistical support must be cut off.
In a surprise admission, Thai officials implicitly acknowledged that attacks had damaged centuries-old Ta Kwai temple — known to Cambodians as Ta Krabey — in a disputed area, but blamed Cambodia for allegedly using it as a military stronghold.
Phnombootra Chandrajoti, director-general of Thailand's Fine Arts Department, said that historical sites should not be used as bases for military operations and that the most important priority is that Thailand must secure and preserve the area.
The new fighting derailed a ceasefire promoted by U.S. President Donald Trump that ended five days of earlier combat in July. It had been brokered by Malaysia and pushed through by pressure from Trump, who threatened to withhold trade privileges unless Thailand and Cambodia agreed. It was formalized in more detail in October at a regional meeting in Malaysia that Trump attended.
Trump announced this past Friday that the two countries had agreed at his urging to renew the ceasefire, but Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul denied making any commitment and Cambodia announced it was continuing to fight in what it said is self-defense.
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Associated Press writers Grant Peck and Wasamon Audjarint in Bangkok contributed to this report.
In this photo released by Agence Kampuchea Press (AKP), displaced people flee shortly after a Thai bombing near their villages, at Srei Snam district, Siem Reap province, Cambodia, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025.(AKP via AP)
Displaced people sit on the floor as they take their refuge in Prey Chamkar Ta Doak market in Banteay Meanchey province, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, after fleeing home following fighting along the Thailand-Cambodia border. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
A displaced people prays as she takes their refuge in Prey Chamkar Ta Doak market in Banteay Meanchey province, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, after fleeing home following fighting along the Thailand-Cambodia border. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Members of a Thai Explosive Ordnance Disposal team inspect the site of a rocket attack during clashes between Thai and Cambodian soldiers in Kantharalak district of Sisaket province, Thailand, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
A member of a Thai Explosive Ordnance Disposal team shows pieces of shrapnel as they inspect the site of a rocket attack during clashes between Thai and Cambodian soldiers in Kantharalak district of Sisaket province, Thailand, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
