The State of Florida has filed a lawsuit directly with the U.S. Supreme Court against Washington and California, accusing both states of violating federal law by issuing Commercial Driver’s Licenses (CDLs) to illegal immigrants who are not legally qualified to operate commercial vehicles.

The 73-page complaint, filed this week by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, alleges that the two sanctuary states have “openly defied federal safety and immigration standards,” creating widespread risks on America’s highways.

The lawsuit follows a fatal highway crash in Florida in August that killed three people.

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The driver accused of causing the collision, 37-year-old Harjinder Singh, was an illegal immigrant from India who held a Washington-issued CDL despite failing multiple exams, including a post-crash English proficiency test.

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According to the filing, Singh attempted an illegal U-turn across a Florida highway, blocking several lanes and causing a minivan to collide with his truck.

The crash resulted in three fatalities. Investigators found that Singh could only identify one of four road signs and answered just two of twelve questions correctly on an English Language Proficiency (ELP) exam administered after the crash.

Records show that Singh failed thirteen prior driving tests before Washington’s Department of Licensing granted him a full-term CDL in July 2023. In 2024, California also issued him a non-domiciled CDL despite his ineligibility under federal law.

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“The result was three fatalities,” Florida’s complaint states. “Washington and California authorized illegal immigrants without proper training or the ability to read road signs to drive commercial motor vehicles,” in violation of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) standards.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has taken additional action in response to the case, announcing that the Trump administration will withhold $40 million in federal funding from California for failing to comply with federal English-language and CDL verification requirements.

Duffy criticized sanctuary states for disregarding federal safety standards and placing unqualified drivers on the road.

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“Washington State improperly issued the driver a full-term CDL. Asylum seekers or illegal aliens are NOT allowed to receive this!” Duffy wrote in a public statement following the crash.

“States MUST FOLLOW THE RULES. If they had, this driver would NEVER have been behind the wheel and three precious lives would still be with us.”

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He added that the Department of Transportation has initiated a full audit of state CDL programs and will move to cut federal funding from states that continue to license illegal immigrants.

“The failures here are despicable,” Duffy said. “Non-enforcement and radical immigration policies have turned the trucking industry into a lawless frontier.”

Florida’s lawsuit also cites Washington’s 2019 “Keep Washington Working Act,” which prohibits state agencies — including the Department of Licensing — from inquiring about a driver’s citizenship or immigration status.

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Between 2018 and 2025, Washington’s DOL issued CDLs to 685 individuals who failed to provide proof of lawful presence in the United States, the filing claims. The department acknowledged the oversight following Singh’s crash but has not repealed the sanctuary statute.

Washington’s enforcement of English-language requirements has also been minimal. Over a three-month period in 2025, state inspectors conducted more than 6,000 commercial vehicle checks but disqualified only four drivers for failing English proficiency tests.

Florida’s complaint draws parallels between Singh’s case and the Skyline CDL School scandal, in which an investigation revealed that unqualified applicants obtained CDLs through a bribery network in Auburn, Washington, and Vancouver, Oregon.

State documents from that case found that 80 percent of the school’s graduates failed re-testing requirements, and several drivers had never been properly examined.

Attorney General Uthmeier’s complaint argues that sanctuary policies in both states conflict with federal law, which requires states to verify both citizenship and English-language competency before granting CDLs.

“The sanctuary laws are expressly preempted,” the complaint asserts, calling Washington and California’s actions a “public nuisance” that endangers drivers across the nation.

Florida is asking the Supreme Court to declare both states’ sanctuary CDL laws unconstitutional, prohibit them from issuing CDLs to illegal immigrants, and order compliance with all federal verification and English-language regulations.

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The lawsuit also seeks reimbursement for Florida’s legal costs and expenses associated with increased enforcement caused by noncompliance in other states.

“The policies of Washington and California have endangered the traveling public and cost lives,” Florida’s filing states. “Their defiance of federal safety and immigration standards has forced law-abiding states to bear the burden of additional inspections, enforcement, and preventable tragedies.”