New York sues US government over lost highway money linked to commercial licenses for immigrants

New York filed a lawsuit Friday to challenge the federal Transportation Department’s decision to withhold nearly $74 million in highway money because the state refused to revoke nearly 33,000 questionable commercial driver’s licenses for immigrants since an audit uncovered problems last year.

New York joins California in suing over Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s efforts to tighten up the rules for which immigrants can qualify to get a commercial driver’s license and make sure the states are properly enforcing the existing rules.

The issue became prominent after an August crash in Florida involving a truck driver who Duffy said shouldn’t have ever had a license performing an illegal U-turn that killed three people.