On Wednesday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced his decision to withhold $40 million from California, citing the state’s failure to enforce English language requirements for truck drivers.

The decision follows an investigation triggered by a tragic accident in Florida on August 12, involving a foreign truck driver who executed an illegal U-turn. According to Duffy, the probe uncovered substantial shortcomings in California’s enforcement of rules established in June under a directive from former President Donald Trump. Although the driver involved had been issued a commercial license by California, these English proficiency regulations were already in place prior to the accident.

Current guidelines mandate that truckers must demonstrate English proficiency to qualify for a commercial license. Duffy asserted that the driver in the Florida crash should have been disqualified due to his inability to meet these language requirements and his immigration status. The incident has sparked a political debate, with California and Florida’s governors trading criticisms and Duffy using the situation to underscore the administration’s immigration policy concerns.

“California stands alone in neglecting to ensure that big rig operators can read road signs and communicate effectively with law enforcement. This is a critical safety issue that affects every family traveling on America’s highways,” Duffy stated.

In response, California defended its regulatory practices in a formal communiqué to the Transportation Department last month. However, federal officials found the response unsatisfactory.

The office of California Gov. Gavin Newsom quickly pushed back after the announcement Wednesday. Diana Crofts-Pelayo, a spokesperson for the governor, said statistics show that California commercial truck drivers have a lower crash rate than the national average.

But Duffy said when he announced his concerns in August that California had conducted roughly 34,000 inspections that found at least one violation since the new language standards took effect. But only one inspection involved an English language rules violation that resulted in a driver being taken out of service. And 23 drivers with violations in other states were allowed to continue driving after inspections in California.

The Transportation Department said that to get this funding reinstated, California must adopt regulations to enforce the English rules and ensure that state inspectors are testing truck drivers’ English skills during roadside inspections and pulling anyone that fails out of service.

In addition to this English language issue, Duffy has threatened to pull another $160 million from California because of the way the state issues commercial drivers licenses. Duffy significantly restricted who can qualify for those licenses last month.

Three people died when truck driver Harjinder Singh made an illegal U-turn on a highway about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of West Palm Beach and a minivan slammed into his trailer, according to Florida’s Highway Patrol. Singh and his passenger were not injured.

He is being held without bond after being charged with three state counts of vehicular homicide and immigration violations. His lawyer has previously declined to comment on the case.

The crash received intense scrutiny because of questions about Singh’s immigration status and because investigators said he failed an English proficiency test afterward. Duffy and Florida officials blamed California as well as Washington state for issuing him a commercial driver’s license.

But California officials said he had a valid work permit at the time. And New Mexico released video of a traffic stop that showed Singh communicating with an officer effectively after he was pulled over there in July.

Duffy, President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have all be trading barbs with Newsom over the crash and whether Singh should have been driving a truck.

Newsom’s office said California followed all the rules when it issued a license for Singh in July 2024, while the federal government confirmed at that time that he was in the country legally.

Duffy and Florida authorities have said Singh, who is from India, entered the country illegally from Mexico in 2018.