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North Carolina is the ninth state to be targeted since Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy launched the review last year to make sure only qualified drivers hold licenses to drive trucks.

The FY25 annual grants are allocated through a competitive process for states. In this round, $71.6 million was dedicated to “High Priority” grants for CMVs and innovative technology deployment.

An audit of states’ processes and procedures for granting non-domiciled commercial driver licenses and commercial learner’s permits was launched by DOT Secretary Sean Duffy in June.

California is suing the U.S. Transportation Department over the permanent loss of more than $33 million in safety grants tied to English-language rules for truck drivers.

The Commerce Committee recently approved nominees for leadership roles in the secretary’s office and key safety agencies, setting up confirmation votes as early as this month.

The language crackdown is part of a broader Trump administration campaign that’s upending the trucking industry, a critical pillar of the U.S. economy.

“Our audit exposes yet another example of foreigners taking advantage of Minnesota services under Governor Walz’s watch,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said.

The administration’s latest move to flag nearly half of the driving schools as noncompliant doesn’t figure to disrupt the industry, experts say. But the scrutiny on immigrant drivers might.

“We are [reining] in illegal and reckless practices that let poorly trained drivers get behind the wheel of semi-trucks and school buses,” DOT Secretary Sean Duffy said.

The Transportation Department said Dec. 1 that it plans to revoke the certification of nearly 3,000 truck driving schools unless they can comply with training requirements in the next 30 days.