New York filed a lawsuit Friday to challenge the federal Transportation Department's decision to withhold nearly $74 million in highway money because the state refused to revoke nearly 33,000 questionable commercial driver’s licenses for immigrants since an audit uncovered problems last year.
New York joins California in suing over Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy's efforts to tighten up the rules for which immigrants can qualify to get a commercial driver's license and make sure the states are properly enforcing the existing rules.
The federal government declined to comment on the new lawsuit Friday, but officials have been clear about the problems they found with more than half of the 200 licenses they reviewed. Officials said they found significant flaws such as licenses remaining valid long after an immigrant was authorized to be in the country. New York's computer system defaulted to issuing licenses valid for eight years regardless of how long a driver's visa remained valid, according to the Transportation Department.
The issue became prominent after an August crash in Florida involving a truck driver who Duffy said shouldn't have ever had a license performing an illegal U-turn that killed three people. California has lost $200 million over concerns about its non-domiciled commercial driver's licenses and whether it is enforcing English language requirements for truckers. Several other states — including Pennsylvania, Minnesota and North Carolina — have been warned they are at risk of losing funding.
But most states have either complied or remain in negotiations with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The federal government has reviewed records related to these non-domiciled CDLs in every state.
New York Attorney General Letitia James said the state believes it properly followed all the rules for commercial licenses that were in place at the time they were issued, so it doesn't plan to revoke the licenses. The state argues that it shouldn't lose the $73.5 million the Transportation Department is withholding.
New York officials reviewed all those cases and found that all the recipients were authorized to be in the country when they received their licenses. The state pointed that out to federal officials in January, so James said it's unfair for the federal government to withhold money the state relies on to help provide safe roads and bridges.
“By canceling this funding, the federal government is putting jobs and communities at risk. New Yorkers are counting on these investments, and we will not let the president jeopardize our communities’ safety,” she said.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said that audits performed by the first Trump administration confirmed the state was following the federal regulations. But Duffy has taken a more strict approach to enforcing the rules in the current administration.
“Once again, New York is facing devastating federal cuts for nothing more than political payback,” Hochul said. “Ripping away money that goes toward critical safety upgrades on our roads is reckless and it is illegal.”
In addition to trying to get unqualified drivers off the road, Duffy has led an effort to crack down on questionable trucking schools and go after trucking companies that violate the rules and then just change their names and keep operating.
Even before that, the Trump administration announced last summer that they would begin enforcing existing rules that require truck drivers to be able to speak English proficiently. Duffy has said those language skills could prove crucial during a traffic stop or after an accident to ensure that truck drivers can communicate with authorities about what happened and whether they are transporting hazardous chemicals.
Trucking industry groups have praised the efforts because they say that too many unqualified drivers who shouldn't have licenses have been able to get behind the wheel of an 80,000-pound (about 39,916 kilograms) truck. That jeopardizes the safety of everyone on the highways and tends to depress how much drivers can earn if companies are able to hire cheap immigrant truck drivers and pay them less.
The trucking trade groups have long been pushing for more accountability in the system and stronger standards on who can set up a trucking company. For years, anyone willing to pay a fee of a few hundred dollars and show proof of insurance could set up a trucking company.
Questionable operations might not be caught until much later when the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration gets a chance to audit them.
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.
So immigrant groups have said they believe that many drivers are being unfairly targeted. The spotlight has been on Sikh truckers because the driver in the Florida crash and the driver in another fatal crash in California in October are both Sikh. Several groups sued to challenge California's plan to revoke roughly 20,000 commercial licenses.
Last fall, the Transportation Department proposed new emergency restrictions that would severely limit which noncitizens could get a license, but a court put the new rules on hold because they hadn't undergone all the normal review steps in drafting a rule.
So Duffy announced a new final rule in February that had been properly vetted to tighten up the restrictions on which immigrants can qualify for a commercial license.
The only immigrant drivers who can get a license under the new rules are holders of an H-2a, H-2b or E-2 visa. H-2a is for temporary agricultural workers while H-2b is for temporary nonagricultural workers, and E-2 is for people who make substantial investments in a U.S. business.
U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy speaks during a press briefing on flight safety, at the U.S. Department of Transportation, Tuesday, April 21, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Tom Brenner)
NAHUNTA, Ga. (AP) — A volunteer firefighter died battling a wildfire in northern Florida while more than 120 homes have been destroyed in southeast Georgia and thousands more remain threatened by two large blazes, one of which investigators suspect was sparked by a foil balloon touching power lines, officials said Friday.
An unusually large number of wildfires are burning this spring across the Southeast, where scientists say the threat of fire has been amplified by a combination of extreme drought, gusty winds, climate change and dead trees still littering some forests after being toppled by Hurricane Helene in 2024.
In northern Florida, the Nassau County Sheriff's Office said Friday that volunteer firefighter James “Kevin” Crews suffered an unspecified medical emergency while suppressing a brush fire. Crews was rushed to a hospital where he died Thursday evening, according to a news release posted to social media.
“Kevin was the epitome of courage and dedication,” Hilliard Volunteer Fire Chief Jerry Johnson said in a statement. “His sacrifice will never be forgotten.”
After getting a firsthand look at firefighting efforts in southeast Georgia, Gov. Brian Kemp told reporters that state officials believe 87 homes burned in rural Brantley County this week are the most ever destroyed by a single wildfire in the state's history.
An additional 35 homes have been lost to a larger fire burning in sparsely populated Clinch and Echols counties near the Florida state line, Kemp said. That blaze has burned about 50 square miles (129 square kilometers), an area twice the size of Manhattan.
Kemp said officials suspect the Brantley County was sparked by a foil party balloon that touched live power lines, creating an electrical arc that ignited the ground. He said investigators suspect the larger fire started with a man welding a gate outside.
Spread across more than 11 square miles (28 square kilometers) and still growing, the Brantley County blaze was 15% contained Friday, the Georgia Forestry Commission said. An estimated 4,000 homes in the county were under evacuation orders Friday, said commission spokesperson Seth Hawkins.
“There’s no way to stop this fire,” Kemp said. “They’re having to contain the flanks and the back of it and then, hopefully, we get a change in the weather.”
No fire deaths or injuries have been reported in Georgia.
Firefighters are battling more than 150 other wildfires in Georgia and Florida that have sent smoky haze into places far from the flames, triggering air quality warnings for some cities.
Michael Gibson was at his job Thursday at a chicken feed producer when his fiancee called urging him to come home. By the time he arrived, firefighters were already on the road where Gibson, his fiancee and their four children lived. He said he took his family to safety and tried to return to salvage belongings, but police stopped him.
Gibson said the fire consumed his mobile home and one beside it where his fiancee's brother lived. His family has been staying in a camper on a relative's property.
“We’ve lost everything, but I’m one of the lucky ones.” Gibson said Friday. “We’ve been prepared to leave. And I’m truly blessed to have my family and to have somewhere to sleep. ... A lot of people in my county didn’t make it out with the clothes on their backs.”
Jennifer Murphy said she had little time to react when firefighters knocked at her door in the Brantley County community of Hortense.
She said she barely had a chance to gather her dog, Chip, and a single bag of belongings before firefighters urgently helped her walk down her wheelchair ramp and grab a rolling walker from her van outside.
“It was like, 'Get out now, right now. You’ve got to leave,’” Murphy said Friday at the local church where she had spent the night on a couch.
While crews with bulldozers work to clear fire breaks around the burning areas, firefighters from dozens of local agencies have focused on protecting nearby homes and other structures — clearing away dry brush and using hoses and sprinklers to keep houses and yards wet.
"We’ve definitely had the local fire guys out there literally hosing stuff down,” said Hawkins of the forestry commission.
In Florida, firefighters were battling more than 120 wildfires Friday, mostly in the state’s northern half. Fire crews in Georgia responded to 31 new and relatively small blazes Thursday, the state forestry commission said.
Officials say soaking rain is badly needed to snuff out the large fires, and that possible showers forecast this weekend won't bring enough rainfall. There's also a chance of thunderstorms, raising concerns that lightning could spark more fires.
"It is going to take 8 to 10 inches before we can walk away from these fires,” said Johnny Sabo, director of the Georgia Forestry Commission.
He said long-range forecasts predict less than average rainfall until July.
Bynum reported from Savannah, Georgia. Associated Press journalist Jeff Amy contributed from Atlanta
A firefighting helicopter takes off from the airport working on fires in Southeast Georgia, Friday, April 24, 2026, in Waycross, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Jennifer Murphy and her dog Chip sit inside the Southside Baptist church as she is displanced by the Brantley Highway 82 fire, Friday, April 24, 2026, in Nahunta, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Annabelle Enke plays as her father Michael Gibson looks on after losing thier home at the Brantley Highway 82 fire, Friday, April 24, 2026, in Nahunta, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Gov. Brian Kemp speaks on the fires in Southeast Georgia, Friday, April 24, 2026, in Waycross, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Michael Gibson and his fiancée Tabitha Enke sit inside their camper after losing their home during the Brantley Highway 82 fire, Friday, April 24, 2026, in Nahunta, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
The burned out remains of the Wedding Chapel at covenant acres is seen near the Brantley Highway 82 fire, Thursday, April 23, 2026, near Nahunta, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
A burned vehicle sits near a destroyed home as the Brantley Highway 82 fire burns, Thursday, April 23, 2026, near Nahunta, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
A burned trailer sits near a destroyed home as the Brantley Highway 82 fire burns, Thursday, April 23, 2026, near Nahunta, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
A firefighter works the Brantley Highway 82 fire, Thursday, April 23, 2026, near Nahunta, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
