In another shocked-but-not-surprised disclosure related to President Trump’s election integrity executive order, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin just revealed that several states shared sensitive motor vehicle information with non-governmental groups prior to the 2020 presidential election. Archived with a group formed by Pew Charitable Trust, private data including social security and drivers license numbers were then shared with a nonprofit named after the wife of Mark Zuckerberg; the then-Facebook founder led a $400 million nationwide operation to boost voter registration favoring Democratic candidates, particularly Joe Biden, that year.
“This sharing and resharing of Motor Vehicle Agency data among NGOs may not qualify as a permissible use of [that] data,” Mullin explained to Attorney General Todd Blanche in a letter last week. “This category of data regarding potential voters is extremely valuable to political parties and campaigns.”
But my, how times have changed.
Some of those same states are currently fighting the administration’s attempt to obtain millions of files related to the holders of commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs). For example, Mullin busted Colorado, Washington, and Pennsylvania for sharing motor vehicle and voter registration files in order to register non-qualified residents including illegals—but those states now are parties in a blue-state lawsuit to prevent the Department of Transportation from acquiring a database containing the files of 17 million truck drivers. The move is the latest in the DOT’s crusade to rid highways of unsafe, and in some instances illegal, truck drivers behind the wheel of 80,000-pound rigs; Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy initiated the effort following the deaths of several American citizens by illegal immigrants.
Who Owns the Data?
In June, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), a subsidiary agency of the DOT, sent a letter to a nationwide nonprofit that manages motor vehicle records to ask for identifying information pertaining to all commercial drivers license (CDL) holders across the country. That request was accompanied by a subpoena for the same information by the Department of Homeland Security the following month; the nonprofit, the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA), indicated it would cooperate. The subpoena was withdrawn.
But after several weeks of foot-dragging by AAMVA, who insisted individual states deserved a say in the matter, DOT officials pushed back. “States have no veto over the production of records that AAMVA is holding on DOT’s behalf, that DOT has statutory authority and responsibility to maintain, and that are urgently needed for the federal government to help prevent fatal trucking accidents involving the many drivers to whom States have improperly issued Commercial Driver’s Licenses,” a DOT lawyer wrote on August 11. “This is not ‘state data,’ and State laws and choices cannot override DOT’s statutory authority or AAMVA’s obligation to produce DOT’s own records to DOT.” The previously-withdrawn subpoena was re-issued and DOT threatened to pull $10 million in federal funds that pays for the very same database that the federal government wants access to. (All correspondence is here.)
In response, 22 states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit to halt the production of the requested records. “If…AAMVA were to yield to the threat and turn over the sensitive personal information of millions of drivers, that disclosure would breach the confidentiality of millions of individuals by divulging personal information that Plaintiff States promised to keep private, subject to narrow exceptions, damaging public trust in the States and foreseeably deterring many people from applying for CDLs, which would deprive the States of revenue and potentially cause some to attempt to drive without valid licenses,” the August 13 lawsuit warned.
That same day, Virginia Judge Anthony Trenga—a George W. Bush appointee who has ruled against the Trump administration at least a dozen times since 2025—halted the production of the data. Trenga then issued a temporary restraining order claiming that while the AAMVA holds all CDL records, the data is “owned by the states.” Trenga now is considering a preliminary injunction to further delay the process.
Duffy opposes the preliminary injunction on a number of grounds including jurisdiction and Trenga’s claims that the request related to immigration policy. “[The] Court’s conclusion that DOT’s request was a pretext for immigration enforcement ignored the agency’s genuine interest in promoting commercial motor vehicle safety and unfairly faulted it for having ‘other unstated [or stated] reasons’ for acting.”
The fight for CDL records comes on the heels of another spate of fatalities caused by non-domiciled long haulers. An illegal from India killed an Ohio woman in a head-on crash last week; it appears a non-domiciled CDL holder killed a New York woman in a separate crash over the weekend after he attempted to back up on a busy highway.
More here:
So the safety of our highways is not important? Illegals driving 80,000 lb. Trucks are not a threat to innocent American lives? Homeland Security should hire as many as it takes to stop every truck and inspect their logs, company and most important their license!! If found to be illegal in any way lock them up and deport every one of them! This is a senseless ruling.
What is going on here?
Why is the federal government permitting a private entity to maintain the records of all CDL licensees? If the federal government is entitled to access these records, they should be maintained solely by the federal government, or one of its entities that it has direct oversight upon. There should not be an entity that can refuse this type of request just because it exists as a go-between entity.
Additionally, there needs to be a system whereby these judges that act above and beyond the scope of their duties should have strict liability applied to their acts. When they violate laws beyond their scope, there should be a provision that requires they abdicate their position as a judge, and step into permanent retirement without benefits. That Anthony Tremga appears to qualify for the boot up his rear.