22 States Sue After Homeland Security Subpoenas 17 Million Truckers’ License Records for Immigration Enforcement

Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia sued the Department of Homeland Security on Aug. 13 in the Eastern District of Virginia to quash a subpoena demanding every record in the Commercial Driver’s License Information System going back five years — roughly 17 million records containing names, dates of birth, license numbers and Social Security numbers. A parallel suit by 21 states and D.C. targets the Transportation Department and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration over an identical demand. DHS’s subpoena states the data will be used to investigate CDL schools, address fraud in license issuance and conduct civil immigration enforcement.

The filings describe an escalating pressure campaign on the nonprofit that runs the database: after it raised privacy objections, the states allege, FMCSA threatened to terminate all of its federal grants and contracts. The states argue the demand exceeds federal authority and fits a pattern of assembling state-held personal records into what they call a nationwide surveillance system.

A federal judge entered an administrative stay pausing compliance and set a hearing on the motion to quash. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy called the suit “ridiculous” and said the department will fight it.