Bay Area immigrant truck drivers concerned amid crackdown on commercial licenses
By Amanda Hari
Employees at an Oakland trucking company are on edge as the Trump Administration said it will continue its crackdown on certain commercial licenses held by immigrant truck drivers.
“Most of us here at the port are immigrants,” said Bill Aboudi.
Aboudi is the owner of AB Trucking in Oakland and an immigrant himself. None of his employees received the letter about their license being revoked, but a lot are still uneasy.
“You’re targeted, and you get harassed and that’s what’s been happening,” Aboudi explained.
Back in September, the Trump administration released an audit that questioned the legitimacy of about 20,000 California commercial driver’s licenses held by immigrants. It found the licenses had expiration dates that exceeded the drivers’ authorization to live and work in the US.
Now, those licenses are scheduled to be cancelled on March 6.
On Tuesday, during President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address, he doubled down on making it more difficult for non-citizens to get commercial licenses.
“That’s why tonight I’m calling on Congress to pass what we will call the Dalilah law barring any state from granting commercial driver’s licenses to illegal aliens,” said Mr. Trump.
The proposed law is named for a girl who was severely injured in an accident involving an undocumented truck driver.
Wednesday, advocates and drivers were in court to argue against the cancellation, including attorney with Asian Law Caucus Katherine Zhao.
“It would have a devastating impact, not only on the individuals like you mentioned but their livelihoods because having a commercial license is a requirement of their jobs, but also it would impact their families, the communities that they serve, as well as the larger state and if not the country, because they’re providing essential services,” said Zhao.
The hearing was continued to Thursday, but Zhao is still hopeful they can protect drivers.
“To impress upon the court the urgency of March 6th,” said Zhao. “So, our hope is that there will be a decision before that date, so the cancellations don’t go into effect.”
Aboudi said he’s proud to see drivers doing everything they can to stay behind the wheel.
