The Maine Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) has joined the opposition to a federal rule that limits which legal immigrants can obtain a commercial driver’s license (CDL) or permit.
The state says that if the new restrictions go into effect, all current non-domiciled CDL holders in Maine will no longer be eligible for licenses. These drivers are legally permitted to work in the U.S. but are not yet permanent U.S. residents.
According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), which prepared the rule, it will cancel nearly all of the country’s 200,000 non-domiciled CDL licenses. That’s about 5% of the total commercial driver workforce.
The new rule (FMCSA-2025-0622) only allows immigrants with three specific types of work visas to be eligible: H-2a (temporary agricultural workers), H-2b (temporary non-agricultural workers), and E-2 (investors in U.S. businesses). Immigrants with other statuses, such as refugees, asylum seekers, and those with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), are prevented from holding CDLs.
Also, states are required to verify an applicant’s immigration status using a federal database and licenses are valid for a maximum of one year or until the applicant’s visa expired, whichever came first.
FMCSA claims the restrictions are necessary to enhance highway safety, restore integrity to the licensing process, and address widespread state-level errors uncovered by audits. The agency has cited the involvement of non-domiciled CDL holders in recent fatal crashes as justifications for the rule.
But Maine is questioning the rule’s fairness and necessity, as well as the process used to put it into effect. So are 17 other states and the District fo Columbia.
“The proposal will be devastating to many immigrants and their families by taking away their livelihood and will harm Maine employers who need more qualified workers in the workforce,” Secretary of State Shenna Bellows commented. adding that there is already a shortage of qualified CDL drivers.
Maine cites potential harmful effects of the new restrictions on the state’s construction, logging, hauling and snowplowing businesses well as on schools and public transit authorities that depend upon bus drivers.
The state criticizes FMCSA for issuing an “interim final rule” without a prior notice-and-comment period, making it effective immediately and bypassing the standard regulatory process. The rule was put into effect just three days after the Trump Administration announced it at a press conference, citing what Maine believes are “specious” and “disingenuous” reasons and without any consultation with states.
A U.S. Court of Appeals has issued a stay that prevents the rule from taking effect until further notice.
Despite the legal challenge, the Trump Administration has threatened to withdraw millions of dollars in transportation funding from states including Pennsylvania, California and Minnesota if they do not follow the tighter rules. They are being told they must also revoke licenses still held by unqualified non-domiciled drivers.
Also, while requiring truck drivers to speak and read English is not a new requirement, states are also being told they must follow a separate regulation that raises the English proficiency standards and increases penalties. A driver who cannot read and speak English sufficiently to converse with the general public, to understand highway traffic signs and signals, to respond to official inquiries, and to make entries on reports and records is not qualified to operate a commercial motor vehicle in interstate commerce under this updated rule.
The federal agency contends that immigrants can’t be properly vetted because driving histories from abroad are not available. The state says the non-citizens have been legally living in the U.S. for many years, have legal authorization to work in the U.S., and have years of driving history that can be verified using their Real ID or standard licenses issued to them by the states where they have resided.
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Maine further maintains that the CDL safety procedures already include mandatory skills and knowledge tests and require disqualification of drivers with serious traffic violations.
According to Maine, the federal government has failed to prove a connection between the domicile of a CDL driver and potential safety outcomes such as fewer crashes or violations. On the contrary, FMCSA’s own data shows that 99% of commercial fatal accidents in 2024 were caused by holders of regular CDLs.
Maine’s opposition is consistent with the opposition of the District of Columbia and 17 other states: Massachusetts, California, Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. They agree that the new restrictions are unlawful and that FMCSA should rescind the rule and not make it a final rule.
Maine’s comments on the new restrictions also echo the majority of the more than 8,000 comments in the federal register that oppose the regulation. These commenters argue that driving competence and safety records, not immigration status, should be the criteria for holding a CDL.
The new rule is titled “Restoring Integrity to the Issuance of Non-Domiciled Commercial Drivers Licenses.”
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