Sean Duffy Just Hit California With One Punishment That Has Gavin Newsom Seeing Red

California thought it could thumb its nose at federal safety rules without consequences.

That assumption just cost the state dearly.

And Sean Duffy just hit California with one punishment that has Gavin Newsom seeing red.

Trump administration pulls $40 million after California refuses to enforce trucker English requirements

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy dropped the hammer on California, announcing the federal government is withholding over $40 million in highway safety funding.¹

The reason? California is the only state in the nation refusing to enforce English language proficiency requirements for commercial truck drivers.¹

Every other state fell in line after Duffy issued warnings back in August.²

California stood alone in defiance – and now the bill has come due.

"I put states on notice this summer: enforce the Trump Administration’s English language requirements or the checks stop coming," Duffy said in a statement.³ "California is the only state in the nation that refuses to ensure big rig drivers can read our road signs and communicate with law enforcement."³

The federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration conducted an investigation that exposed just how badly California ignored federal safety regulations.⁴

From June 25 through August 21, California conducted roughly 34,000 roadside inspections that found at least one violation.⁴

Out of those 34,000 inspections, California placed exactly ONE driver out of service for English language violations.⁴

That’s not an enforcement gap – that’s a policy choice.

The investigation also found that at least 23 drivers who had English proficiency violations in other states were allowed to keep driving after California inspections.⁵

California wasn’t just ignoring the rules – they were actively undermining enforcement efforts by other states.

Deadly Florida crash sparked federal crackdown on unsafe drivers

The Trump administration’s aggressive stance on English proficiency didn’t come out of nowhere.

On August 12, truck driver Harjinder Singh made an illegal U-turn through an "Official Use Only" access point on Florida’s Turnpike near Port St. Lucie.⁶

Singh’s tractor-trailer blocked all northbound lanes as a minivan slammed into his trailer at full speed.⁶

Three people died instantly – a 37-year-old woman from Pompano Beach, a 54-year-old man from Miami, and a 30-year-old driver from Florida City.⁷

Singh, an illegal alien from India who entered through Mexico in 2018, had obtained his Commercial Driver’s License in California despite having no legal right to be in the United States.⁸

https://twitter.com/DerrickEvans4WV/status/1978501047938105660

When investigators tested Singh after the crash, he failed English proficiency exams and could barely read road signs.⁹

Reports surfaced that he answered just three of twelve verbal questions on driver tests and could identify only one of four displayed street signs.¹⁰

https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1957910976801718570

The California Highway Patrol even admitted publicly it had "no intention" of enforcing federal English language requirements.¹¹

That deliberate refusal to enforce basic safety standards directly contributed to three Americans losing their lives.

Florida authorities charged Singh with three counts of vehicular homicide and immigration violations.¹²

He’s being held without bond as a flight risk.¹³

California chose illegal aliens over highway safety and its own law enforcement

The $40,685,225 in withheld funding was designated for California’s Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program.¹⁴

That money would have paid for roadside inspections, traffic enforcement, law enforcement training, and safety audits of trucking companies.¹⁴

In other words, Gavin Newsom’s refusal to enforce federal safety rules is now defunding the very California Highway Patrol officers who wanted to do their jobs properly.

"This is valuable money that should be going to the great men and women in California law enforcement, who we support," Duffy said during an appearance on Fox Business.¹⁵ "Gavin Newsom’s insistence on obstructing federal law has tied my hands."¹⁵

Duffy made it clear where Newsom’s priorities lie.

"Gavin Newsom cares more about illegal migrants than he does about the safety of his citizens or the citizens around the country," Duffy explained.¹⁶

The federal regulation in question isn’t complicated.

Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Section 391.11(b)(2), requires commercial drivers to "read and speak the English language sufficiently to converse with the general public, to understand highway traffic signs and signals in the English language, to respond to official inquiries, and to make entries on reports and records."¹⁷

That’s been federal law for decades.

Previous administrations simply didn’t enforce it.

President Trump changed that with an executive order earlier this year directing stricter enforcement of commercial driver requirements.¹⁸

When Duffy sent warnings to California, Washington, and New Mexico in August, he gave them 30 days to comply or face losing 100% of their Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program funding.¹⁹

Washington and New Mexico got the message and came into compliance.²⁰

California responded by doing absolutely nothing.

Incredibly, Singh had actually been pulled over in New Mexico and let go without receiving a proficiency test.

https://x.com/atutruckers/status/1960547359013642634“>https://x.com/atutruckers/status/1960547359013642634

Had New Mexico authorities allowed their law enforcement officers to administer English proficiency tests at the time, perhaps three souls would be alive today.

Newsom’s office fires back with misleading statistics as more federal cuts loom

Diana Crofts-Pelayo, a spokesperson for Governor Newsom, pushed back with carefully selected statistics.

"The facts are plain and simple – California commercial driver’s license holders had a fatal crash rate nearly 40% lower than the national average," she claimed.²¹

But that statistic deliberately obscures the real issue.

California’s lower crash rate comes from the millions of professional American truckers who have been driving safely for decades with proper English proficiency.

The question isn’t whether California’s overall trucking industry is safe – it’s whether California is allowing unqualified drivers who can’t read road signs or communicate with law enforcement to operate 80,000-pound vehicles on American highways.

The answer to that question is an undeniable yes.

And the $40 million funding cut is just the beginning of California’s problems.

Duffy has another enforcement action pending against California over how the state issues commercial driver’s licenses to non-citizens.²²

If California doesn’t come into compliance within 30 days on that separate violation, the Trump administration will withhold an additional $160 million in federal highway funds – with that amount doubling in year two.²³

That means California is staring down the barrel of losing over $200 million in federal transportation funding annually if Newsom continues his obstruction.

The legal authority for withholding these funds is crystal clear.

Federal law requires states receiving Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program funding to "adopt and enforce laws, regulations, standards, and orders on commercial motor vehicle safety that are compatible with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations."²⁴

California failed that basic requirement.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration formally withdrew approval of California’s fiscal year 2024 and 2025 Commercial Vehicle Safety Plans, effective October 15.²⁵

No approval means no federal dollars.

To get the funding reinstated, California must adopt regulations to enforce English proficiency requirements and ensure state inspectors actually test truck drivers’ English skills during roadside inspections.²⁶

More importantly, California must actually place drivers who fail those tests out of service instead of waving them through like they’ve been doing.

The ball is entirely in Newsom’s court.

He can protect illegal aliens who can’t read highway signs, or he can protect California families on the road.

He can’t do both.

And now, thanks to Secretary Duffy and the Trump administration, California’s refusal to enforce basic safety standards comes with a $40 million price tag – with hundreds of millions more on the line.

Three families in Florida learned the deadly consequences of California’s reckless policies.

How many more American families need to bury loved ones before Gavin Newsom puts public safety ahead of radical leftist ideology?

¹ U.S. Department of Transportation, "Trump’s Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy Announces Consequences for California’s Failure to Enforce English Language Requirements for Truckers," October 15, 2025.

² Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, "Trump’s Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy to California, Washington, and New Mexico: Enforce English Language Requirements or Lose Federal Funding," August 26, 2025.

³ Ibid.

⁴ CNN, "Federal government to withhold $40M from California for not enforcing trucker English requirements," October 16, 2025.

⁵ Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, "Trump’s Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy to California, Washington, and New Mexico."

⁶ U.S. Department of Homeland Security, "Criminal Illegal Alien Recklessly Driving an 18-Wheeler Kills Three in Florida," August 18, 2025.

⁷ Newsweek, "Who Is Harjinder Singh? Truck Driver Accused of Killing 3 in Florida," August 18, 2025.

⁸ U.S. Department of Homeland Security, "Criminal Illegal Alien Recklessly Driving an 18-Wheeler Kills Three in Florida."

⁹ Fox News, "Illegal immigrant driver in deadly Florida crash failed English, road sign tests," August 20, 2025.

¹⁰ Fox News, "Illegal immigrant’s brother detained after Florida crash kills three," August 22, 2025.

¹¹ U.S. Department of Transportation, "Trump’s Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy Announces Consequences for California’s Failure to Enforce English Language Requirements for Truckers."

¹² CBS12, "Timeline of undocumented immigrant’s semi-truck crash that killed 3," August 27, 2025.

¹³ CNN, "Florida truck driver Harjinder Singh, accused by the Trump administration of being in the US illegally, is denied bond," August 24, 2025.

¹⁴ U.S. Department of Transportation, "Trump’s Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy Announces Consequences for California’s Failure to Enforce English Language Requirements for Truckers."

¹⁵ Daily Caller, "Sean Duffy Names The State That Won’t Comply With Trucking Requirements And The Millions It’ll Lose In Govt Funding," October 15, 2025.

¹⁶ Ibid.

¹⁷ U.S. Department of Transportation, "Trump’s Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy Announces Consequences for California’s Failure to Enforce English Language Requirements for Truckers."

¹⁸ U.S. Department of Transportation, "Trump’s Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy Takes Emergency Action to Protect America’s Roads, Restrict Non-Domiciled CDLs," September 2025.

¹⁹ Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, "Trump’s Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy to California, Washington, and New Mexico."

²⁰ CNN, "Federal government to withhold $40M from California for not enforcing trucker English requirements."

²¹ Daily Caller, "Sean Duffy Names The State That Won’t Comply With Trucking Requirements."

²² Fortune, "Trump’s Transportation Secretary to withhold $40 million from California for failing to enforce trucker English language standard," October 16, 2025.

²³ U.S. Department of Transportation, "Trump’s Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy Takes Emergency Action to Protect America’s Roads."

²⁴ U.S. Department of Transportation, "Trump’s Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy Announces Consequences for California’s Failure to Enforce English Language Requirements for Truckers."

²⁵ Ibid.

²⁶ CNN, "Federal government to withhold $40M from California for not enforcing trucker English requirements."