Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said Gavin Newsom was 'lying' after the liberal California governor delayed revoking 17,000 commercial drivers' licenses to illegal migrants.
Duffy and Newsom have been feuding about the licenses for several months, after multiple violent incidents allegedly involving illegal aliens, including an October crash where three people died in a horrific highway collision.
After Duffy threatened to yank $160million in funding for the Golden State, Newsom appeared to relent, announcing the licenses would be taken away in mid-November, with a deadline set for this Monday, January 5.
However, the California DMV announced this week that the cancelation date of the licenses had been extended to March 6, claiming they had to work with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to 'resolve their concerns' with the DMV licensing process.
The state's announcement argued that the extension 'allows the parties to find a solution that permits drivers to remain working to serve our communities.'
California was also facing a class action lawsuit filed by the Asian Law Caucus, Sikh Coalition, and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP on behalf of five drivers who were losing their licenses, FOX 26 reported.
However, Secretary Duffy denied any extension had been reached and called out Newsom on social media.
'Gavin Newsom is lying. The deadline to revoke illegally issued, unvetted foreign trucker licenses is still January 5,' he wrote.
The California DMV announced this week that the cancelation date of the licenses had been extended to March 6
Duffy and Newsom have been feuding about the licenses for several months, after multiple violent incidents
'California does NOT have an "extension" to keep breaking the law and putting Americans at risk on the roads. Miss the deadline, Gavin, and the @USDOT will act -- including cutting nearly $160 million in federal funding.'
Back in November, Newsom's team initially refused to explain why they were revoking the licenses and made a vague mention of merely breaking state law, PBS reported, before admitting that the documents are supposed to expire when a person's legal status changes.
They had also previously claimed that all of the drivers had their licenses originally authorized by the federal government and that Trump's White House was to blame.
In October, Duffy said he was fed up with Newsom allowing illegal migrants to be granted licenses, and indicated he has plans to penalize him.
'I'm about to pull $160 million from California and, as we pull more money, we also have the option of pulling California's ability to issue commercial driver's licenses,' he told Fox Business.
The penalty was set to be issued for Newsom's refusal to comply with an order sent out by Duffy on September 26 which gave him 30 days to get the license situation in order.
'Newsom cares more about illegals getting CDLs than he does the citizens of his own state,' he said at the time.
Duffy was discussing the Department of Transportation's (DOT) report on a licensed illegal immigrant who is accused of killing three people when he slammed his truck into halted traffic on Tuesday afternoon.
Duffy has been after Newsom since illegal immigrant Jashanpreet Singh killed three people when he slammed his truck into traffic last month
Singh was arrested at the scene for being under the influence of drugs and vehicular manslaughter.
He said that Newsom's attitude toward requests for review had been completely ignored.
'Gavin Newsom has thumbed his nose at us, he has refused to comply with the rules that have come from DOT which is: stop issuing these licenses and go back and review all the licenses that you have issued and make sure it's been done legally,' Duffy said.
Newsom previously claimed that Duffy is trying to play politics over the incident.
'This is a tragic situation and as with every tragedy over the last ten months, Secretary [Kristi] Noem has ordered Secretary Duffy to look for every opportunity to manipulate the facts to score cheap political points, but the FEDERAL government needs to look within before they cast blame outside.'
He instead blamed the federal government for having 'approved and renewed this individual's FEDERAL employment authorization multiple times - which allowed him to obtain a commercial driver's license in accordance with FEDERAL law.'
Police have identified the driver in the tragedy as 21-year-old Jashanpreet Singh from Yuba City, California.
He was arrested at the scene for being under the influence of drugs and vehicular manslaughter, according to KTLA.
Three people were killed. Four others were taken to local hospitals to be treated for their injuries.
Further scrutiny was brought to these licenses in late October when a homeowner has shared footage of the carnage left in the wake of a truck driver who performed a desperate U-turn on his residential street
Singh is an undocumented immigrant from India who was caught and released at the California border in 2022.
ICE placed a detainer request on Singh, which would allow the San Bernardino County Sheriff's office to hold him past the normal release time.
The suspect has been booked into West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga to await charges.
Further scrutiny was brought to these licenses in late October when a homeowner shared footage of the carnage left in the wake of a truck driver who performed a desperate U-turn on his residential street.
Footage from a home's security camera showed the electric blue semi-trailer attempting to turn around on the narrow, dead-end road in California.
The driver was unable to successfully perform the turn without damaging a gate, while an unlucky neighbor, who had been out walking her dog, captured images of the truck destroying her property. Some of her lawn appeared to be torn up.
The Department of Transportation audited California and also found 'significant compliance failures' and that one in four non-domiciled CDLs sampled were issued improperly.
A non-domiciled CDL is a type of license issued to a driver who lives outside the US that allows them to operate a truck within the states legally.
A CDL for a US citizen typically takes about four to ten weeks, according to America Truck Driving.
The license grants an individual the ability to drive large vehicles, including but not limited to tanker trucks, buses, and hazardous materials vehicles, depending on the class of license one achieves.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt noted in a conference that the tragedies are following a disturbing pattern of 'illegal aliens being issued commercial vehicle licenses, and the DOT would be cracking down on that.'