California delays revoking 17,000 commercial driver's licenses until March after immigrants sue

A week after immigrant groups filed a lawsuit, California said Tuesday it will delay the revocations of 17,000 commercial driver's licenses until March to allow more time to ensure that truckers and bus drivers who legally qualify for the licenses can keep them.

California decided to revoke the licenses after Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy pressured the state to make sure immigrants who are in the country illegally aren't granted the licenses. The Transportation Department has been prioritizing the issue ever since a truck driver who was not authorized to be in the U.S. made an illegal U-turn and caused a crash in Florida that killed three people in August.

Duffy didn't immediately comment on the delay. California officials are working to make sure the federal Transportation Department is satisfied with the reforms they have put in place. The state had planned to resume issuing commercial driver's licenses in mid-December, but the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration blocked that.

“Commercial drivers are an important part of our economy — our supply chains don’t move, and our communities don’t stay connected without them,” said DMV Director Steve Gordon.

The Sikh Coalition, a national group defending the civil rights of Sikhs, and the San Francisco-based Asian Law Caucus filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of the California drivers. They said immigrant truck drivers were being unfairly targeted. The driver in the Florida crash and the driver in another fatal crash in California in October are both Sikhs.

Immigrants account for about 20% of all truck drivers, but these non-domiciled licenses immigrants can receive only represent about 5% of all commercial driver’s licenses or about 200,000 drivers. The Transportation Department also proposed new restrictions that would severely limit which noncitizens could get a license, but a court put the new rules on hold.

Mumeeth Kaur, the legal director of the Sikh Coalition, said this delay “is an important step towards alleviating the immediate threat that these drivers are facing to their lives and livelihoods.”

Duffy threatened to withhold millions of dollars in federal funding from California, Pennsylvania and Minnesota after audits found significant problems under the existing rules like commercial licenses being valid long after an immigrant truck driver’s work permit expired.

Trucking trade groups have praised the effort to get unqualified drivers who shouldn't have licenses or can’t speak English off the road. They also applauded the Transportation Department's moves to go after questionable commercial driver’s license schools.

FILE - A truck departs from a Port of Oakland shipping terminal on Nov. 10, 2021, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Noah Berger, File)

FILE - Big rigs stack up at the Flying J Truck Stop along Interstate 70 near the small Colorado plains community of Limon, May 21, 2009. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) — Junta leader Gen. Mamdi Doumbouya was declared the winner of Guinea’s presidential election held over the weekend, according to incomplete results released late on Tuesday, the country's first election since a 2021 coup.

Doumbouya won 86.72% of the votes counted so far, according to the General Directorate of Elections. Ahead of the vote on Sunday, analysts had predicted that a weakened opposition would result in Doumbouya's win.

The election was widely as a means to legitimize Doumbouya's stay in power. It was also the culmination of a transition process that began four years ago after Doumbouya ousted President Alpha Condé. The junta leader has since clamped down on opposition and dissent, critics say, leaving him with no major opponents among the eight other candidates who were in the race.

More than 50 political parties were dissolved, and major opposition candidates were either banned from contesting on the grounds of technicalities or were in exile following the clampdown.

Lesser-known Yéro Baldé, a former education minister in Alpha Condé's government, came a distant second with 6.51% of the votes. The directorate said that 80.95% of the registered 6.7 million voters had voted in the election.

After seizing power, Doumbouya had said that he and other military officers would not run in elections. However, a September referendum allowed officers to run and extended the presidential term from five to seven years.

Rich in mineral resources with a 15-million-strong population, half of the country is mired in poverty and experiences record levels of food insecurity, according to the World Food Program.

The Simandou iron ore project, a 75% Chinese-owned mega mining project at the world's largest iron deposit, has been the focal point of infrastructural and economic revitalization for the junta.

Production at the site began last month after decades of delay. The authorities are banking on the project to create thousands of jobs and open investments in other sectors, including education and health.

Guinea is one of the several West African countries that have seen a coup or coup attempt since 2020. Military officers have taken on popular discontent with deteriorating security, underwhelming economies, or disputed elections to seize power.

Since November, Guinea-Bissau and Benin have also gone through coups.

Officials count ballots at a polling station as polls close during the presidential election in Conakry, Guinea, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Fode Toure)