The Maine Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) has joined the opposition to a federal rule that limits which legal immigrants can obtain a commercial driver’s license (CDL) or permit.

The state says that if the new restrictions go into effect, all current non-domiciled CDL holders in Maine will no longer be eligible for licenses. These drivers are legally permitted to work in the U.S. but are not yet permanent U.S. residents.

According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), which prepared the rule, it will cancel nearly all of the country’s 200,000 non-domiciled CDL licenses. That’s about 5% of the total commercial driver workforce.

The new rule (FMCSA-2025-0622) only allows immigrants with three specific types of work visas to be eligible: H-2a (temporary agricultural workers), H-2b (temporary non-agricultural workers), and E-2 (investors in U.S. businesses). Immigrants with other statuses, such as refugees, asylum seekers, and those with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), are prevented from holding CDLs.

Also, states are required to verify an applicant’s immigration status using a federal database and licenses are valid for a maximum of one year or until the applicant’s visa expired, whichever came first.

FMCSA claims the restrictions are necessary to enhance highway safety, restore integrity to the licensing process, and address widespread state-level errors uncovered by audits. The agency has cited the involvement of non-domiciled CDL holders in recent fatal crashes as justifications for the rule.

But Maine is questioning the rule’s fairness and necessity, as well as the process used to put it into effect. So are 17 other states and the District fo Columbia.

“The proposal will be devastating to many immigrants and their families by taking away their livelihood and will harm Maine employers who need more qualified workers in the workforce,” Secretary of State Shenna Bellows commented. adding that there is already a shortage of qualified CDL drivers.

Maine cites potential harmful effects of the new restrictions on the state’s construction, logging, hauling and snowplowing businesses well as on schools and public transit authorities that depend upon bus drivers.

The state criticizes FMCSA for issuing an “interim final rule” without a prior notice-and-comment period, making it effective immediately and bypassing the standard regulatory process. The rule was put into effect just three days after the Trump Administration announced it at a press conference, citing what Maine believes are “specious” and “disingenuous” reasons and without any consultation with states.