INTERNACIONAL
Duffy says ‘time’s up’ for Newsom as feds withhold $160M over illegal trucking licenses
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
The Trump administration is withholding roughly $160 million in federal transportation funding from California beginning in fiscal year 2027 after the state failed to revoke more than 17,000 commercial drivers’ licenses (CDLs), which federal regulators say were unlawfully issued, by a federally agreed-upon deadline, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced Tuesday.
The funding penalty follows a «final determination» issued by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) after California missed a Jan. 5, 2026, deadline to cancel the licenses. Federal officials say this allowed foreign drivers whose licenses did not comply with federal lawful-presence requirements to continue operating heavy commercial vehicles on U.S. roads.
«It’s reckoning day for [Gov.] Gavin Newsom and California. Our demands were simple: follow the rules, revoke the unlawfully-issued licenses to dangerous foreign drivers, and fix the system so this never happens again,» Duffy said in a statement.
«Gavin Newsom has failed to do so, putting the needs of illegal immigrants over the safety of the American people.»
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION WITHHOLDS $40M FROM CALIFORNIA OVER TRUCKER ENGLISH PROFICIENCY RULES
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has taken action against California after it failed to act on unlawfully issued CDLs. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Duffy added the administration is pulling the funding «to ensure federal tax dollars don’t fund this charade.»
According to the FMCSA, the agency’s audit uncovered what it described as a «systemic collapse» of California’s non-domiciled CDL program. Federal officials said the state illegally issued licenses with expiration dates extending years beyond a driver’s lawful presence and granted CDLs to individuals who were ineligible to hold them under federal safety regulations.
Overall, more than 20,000 active non-domiciled — people whose permanent home is located outside the U.S. — CDLs were issued by California in violation of federal rules, according to the audit.
TRUMP THREATENS TO CUT $75M FROM PENNSYLVANIA OVER ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CDL SCANDAL
A truck departs from a Port of Oakland shipping terminal in Oakland, Calif. (Noah Berger, File/AP Photo)
«Federal regulations are clear: states must correct safety deficiencies on a schedule mutually agreed upon by the Agency, and California failed to meet its commitment to rescind these unlawfully-issued licenses by January 5,» FMCSA Administrator Derek D. Barrs said. «We will not accept a corrective plan that knowingly leaves thousands of drivers holding noncompliant licenses behind the wheel of 80,000-pound trucks in open defiance of federal safety regulations.»
Federal officials said a nationwide audit conducted in September found that more than 25% of California’s non-domiciled CDLs were unlawfully issued, including licenses extended as many as four years beyond the expiration of lawful presence documentation.
People walk through the rain at the Arleta DMV in Arleta, Calif. (Hans Gutknecht/MediaNews Group/The Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images)
The audit cited one case in which California issued a CDL to a driver from Brazil with endorsements to operate a passenger bus and a school bus, even though the license remained valid for months after the driver’s legal presence expired.
In November, California agreed to revoke every illegally issued license within 60 days and to work with federal officials so the agency could verify that the failures allowing the licenses to be issued had been corrected, according to the release.
Federal officials said the state failed to meet that commitment and attempted to extend the revocation deadline without federal approval.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Newsom’s office, the California Department of Motor Vehicles and the California State Transportation Agency did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Michael Ruiz contributed to this reporting.
transportation,california,politics,enforcement,illegal immigrants,gavin newsom,homeland security
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
A custody hearing in Ada, Oklahoma, last month took a turn for the unexpected — and the incredibly loud — after an attorney who identified himself as transgender was arrested and dragged from the courtroom where he had appeared to represent his client just minutes before.
The exchange occurred during a custody hearing in Pontotoc County, Oklahoma, some 90 minutes southeast of Oklahoma City. The attorney, Rob Hopkins, was jailed for contempt after sparring repeatedly with the judge, Lori Jackson, during an otherwise unremarkable proceeding.
Surveillance footage, audio, and body camera footage reviewed by Fox News Digital has shed new light on the extraordinary confrontation, in which Hopkins can be seen actively resisting arrest by bailiffs. At one point, Hopkins can be seen splaying his body across the judge’s bench, resulting in a pile of documents being swept off its finely polished wood surface.
«You’re HURTING ME!» Hopkins bellowed, as bystanders looked on. «I can’t BREATHE!» he shrieked again, louder.
Attendees in the courtroom could be seen looking on quietly as Hopkins twisted, turned, and contorted his body to evade the handcuffs that officers used to restrain him.
«I felt very threatened by this person,» one individual could be heard telling the judge.
SHELTERS, JESUS, AND MISS PAC-MAN: US JUDGE GRILLS DOJ OVER TRANS POLICY IN DIZZYING LINE OF QUESTIONING
(Surveillance footage provided to Fox News Digital by the Oklahoma District Attorney’s Office, 22nd District.)
The meltdown in question, and the arrest, occurred during a custody hearing punctuated by repeated interruptions from Hopkins and warnings from Jackson that he would be held in contempt.
Hopkins then suggested she was discriminating against him for his transgender status, escalating tensions inside the courtroom.
«It’s because I’m a transgender attorney practicing all over the state,» Hopkins leveled sharply, to which Jackson shot back: «I don’t know what you are.»
«I don’t know you from Adam,» Jackson said later, describing his conduct as «entirely inappropriate.»
Shortly after, bailiffs entered the courtroom, prompting the hearing to descend into complete chaos.
«Do NOT HURT ME!» Hopkins yelled at the officers.
«I’m being thrown down!» he bellowed, as he threw himself on the bench before the officers eventually forced him onto the floor.
‘BLANKIES,’ ICE TACTICS AND LUXURY JETS: TOP MOMENTS FROM NOEM’S HOUSE TESTIMONY
More officers streamed in to help restrain Hopkins, whose uproarious exclamations had, at that point, drawn a crowd — not only in the courtroom, but also in the hallways surrounding it, as the body camera footage shows.
«Get a female officer, now!» Hopkins demanded. «Call 911!» he shrieked, as the officers attempted to place him in handcuffs.
«I can’t breathe! I can’t breathe!» he declared.
From the floor of the court, Hopkins accused the officers of «throwing his glasses» onto the floor — a claim that surveillance footage reviewed by Fox News Digital appears to refute — and ordered the officers to place them back on his face.
«Put them on my face,» Hopkins demanded repeatedly, as the officers attempted to place Hopkins into a seated position and escort him from the court. «PUT THEM ON MY FACE!» Hopkins screamed once more, the volume and urgency unchanged from his request for emergency services just seconds before.
‘YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED!’: PROTESTER DRAGGED FROM KRISTI NOEM’S SENATE HEARING
Rob Hopkins, a transgender lawyer in Oklahoma, was jailed for contempt during a procedural hearing in Ada, Oklahoma, last month after a viral meltdown. ( Oklahoma District Attorney’s Office, 22nd Prosecutorial District.)
Hopkins said he has since shuttered his law firm following the contempt charge and fallout from the hearing.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
He did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment regarding either the proceedings in question or the reason for his firm’s closure.
politics, crime world, donald trump, federal judges, us, fox news media, federal courts, judiciary
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
The Islamic Republic of Iran took the lives of two men convicted of trying to storm a military facility and access an armory in January, the Mizan news outlet of Iran’s judiciary indicated on Sunday, according to Reuters.
An organization called Iran Human Rights said that the Iranian news agency reported that the two individuals, Mohammad Amin Biglari and Shahin Vahedparast Kolor, were hanged on April 5.
Biglari, a 19-year-old computer science student, Kolor, 30, were arrested with several other individuals on January 8 amid a crackdown against protesters in the nation’s capital city of Tehran, according to the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights.
They faced charges that included «‘enmity against God (moharebeh), corruption on earth, arson of public facilities, and assembly and collusion to commit crimes against national security,’» the group indicated.
TRUMP WARNS IRAN HE MAY STRIKE ‘EVERY POWER PLANT’ AS DEADLINE TO REOPEN HORMUZ NEARS
An Iranian flag is placed amids rubble and debris next to a destroyed residential building near Ferdowsi square in Tehran on March 3, 2026. ( ATTA KENARE / AFP via Getty Images)
Another individual arrested January 8, 18-year-old Amirhossein Hatami, was hanged on April 2, Iran Human Rights noted, citing the Mizan News Agency.
Ali Fahim, a 23-year-old who was among those arrested on January 8, was executed on April 6, the Hengaw Organization noted on Monday, explaining that the Mizan news agency confirmed the killing.
«These executions are part of the Islamic Republic’s strategy of survival, waging war against its own people under the shadow of external conflict,» Iran Human Rights Director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam noted. «The international community must respond with urgency. The situation of prisoners and the regime’s systematic use of the death penalty as a political tool of repression must be made a central condition in any negotiations or engagement with the Islamic Republic.»
The executions occurred as the U.S. and Israel continue to wage war against Iran.
EX-CIA STATION CHIEF REVEALS HOW AGENCY EXPLOITED IRANIAN COMMUNICATION CHANNELS DURING AIRMAN RESCUE
US President Donald Trump takes a question from a reporter after signing an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on March 31, 2026. (Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP via Getty Images)
In a Sunday Truth Social post, President Donald Trump threatened to attack Iranian power infrastructure and bridges on Tuesday.
He demanded that Iran open the Strait of Hormuz.
WHY THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ MATTERS AS TRUMP ISSUES FRESH ULTIMATUM TO IRAN
A large plume of smoke rises over Tehran after explosions were reported in the city during the night on March 28, 2026 in Tehran, Iran. (Getty Images)
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
«Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the F—in’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah,» the president declared.
world, war with iran, iran
Carlos Melconian: “Los dólares de Vaca Muerta aparecen en Punta Cana”
WATCH: Oklahoma trans attorney jailed for contempt after epic court meltdown
¡Incendio! Fernanda Iglesias le tiró a Eduardo Feinmann con la peor acusación que se le puede hacer a un periodista: «Sobres»
Javier Milei habló de la guerra en Irán: “Apoyo total y absolutamente el accionar de Estados Unidos e Israel”
Clan Kennedy: podrá el furor por «Love Story» llevar al nieto de JFK al Congreso
Pese al auxilio de $400.000 millones, las urgencias financieras de las provincias conspiran contra la reforma fiscal que impulsan Milei y Caputo
La Armada sorteará 30 lugares en el buque que escoltará la salida de la Fragata Libertad: cómo anotarse
La nueva advertencia de Donald Trump a Irán: «El tiempo se acaba, quedan 48 horas antes del infierno»
Círculo rojo: intrigas en el gabinete, desgaste por el caso Adorni y movimientos inquietantes en el Poder Judicial
AFAgate: el juez Armella le derivó la causa a su colega González Charvay, como pretendían Tapia
INTERNACIONAL2 días agoLa nueva advertencia de Donald Trump a Irán: «El tiempo se acaba, quedan 48 horas antes del infierno»
- POLITICA1 día ago
Círculo rojo: intrigas en el gabinete, desgaste por el caso Adorni y movimientos inquietantes en el Poder Judicial
- POLITICA2 días ago
Créditos del Banco Nación: el Gobierno reveló que Pettovello echó a Massaccesi porque “mintió”
