U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy is threatening to pull millions of dollars in federal funding to New York after an audit reportedly found more than half of the state's commercial trucking licenses issued to foreigners were issued illegally. 

Duffy claimed the audit revealed New York is the "worst offender" state, and claimed 53% of Commercial Driving Licenses issued to foreigners in the state were issued illegally. 

Duffy said New York issues eight-year Commercial Driver's Licenses to foreigners who may only have a 60-day work authorization.

"That's contrary to the law," he said. "But we also found that New York, many times, won't even verify whether they have a work authorization, a visa, or they're in the country illegally. So they're just giving eight-year commercial drivers licenses to people who are coming through their DMV and sending them out on American roadways." 

Duffy said he's giving New York 30 days to get in compliance. 

"If they come into compliance, we're gonna work with them. If New York refuses to come into compliance, because Kathy Hochul for some reason believes that we should have unqualified truck drivers on American roadways, we are going to pull tens of millions of dollars as phase one for the state of New York," Duffy said. 

Derek Barrs, director of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, said he found examples of foreign drivers who had work authorizations expiring in May 2025 but their Commercial Driver Licenses had an expiration of May 2032. 

"The CDL remains valid for nearly seven years beyond the individual's lawful presence in our country," Barrs said. "This means New York blindly issues CDLs that expire long past the expiration that drivers lawfully should be in this country."

Duffy said the matter shouldn't be considered political. 

"Everyone, a Democrat and Republican, when they get on American roadways, they want to be safe. They don't want to have unqualified commercial drivers on our roads," Duffy said. 

"Commercial Drivers Licenses are regulated by the Federal Government, and New York State DMV has, and will continue to, comply with federal rules," the New York DMV said in response. "Every CDL we issue is subject to verification of an applicant's lawful status through federally-issued documents reviewed in accordance with federal regulations."

It's the most recent incident in which Duffy has threatened to withhold funds from New York. The back-and-forth began when Duffy and the Trump administration attempted to shut down New York City's congestion pricing program. That program remains in effect.