States demand brakes on feds’ collection of trucker data

The Trump administration claims it needs access to a database of 17 million driver records that contain sensitive personal information to carry out immigration enforcement. ALEXANDRIA, Va. (CN) — A collection of 22 states sued the Trump administration Thursday in hopes of blocking the collection of millions of commercial drivers’ sensitive information.The lawsuit comes after the Department of Homeland Security, acting on the request of the U.S. Department of Transportation, subpoenaed the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators this week seeking access to a database containing 17 million driver records dating back five years that contain sensitive personal information.The American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, a nonprofit organization, operates a commercial driver license information system. This nationwide data depository helps states ensure that each commercial driver has only one driver’s license and one complete driver record, and that states do not improperly issue commercial licenses to applicants with a history of unsafe commercial driving in other states.The states provide the information system with personally identifiable information such as the driver’s name, date of birth, Social Security number, driver’s license number and the name of the state that provided the record. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, an agency within the Department of Transportation, can currently access only individual drivers’ information by searching their Social Security numbers. In June, the administration demanded a comprehensive nationwide database of the information.The states, led by the attorneys general of Illinois, Virginia, California and Washington, D.C., sued the transportation department under several federal privacy laws, including the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act, which regulates the disclosure of driving records and the Privacy Act, which governs the federal government’s collection of personal information. They claim the administration’s failure to consult the states about the demand also violates the Administrative Procedure Act.“Yet again, the Trump administration has threatened to hold federal funding hostage in order to obtain personally identifiable information of millions of Americans for improper purposes,” Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said in a press release. “This database was created 40 years ago so states could share information with each other to stop unsafe drivers from operating commercial vehicles, and the federal government’s decision to ransack that database puts the whole system in jeopardy.”In one lawsuit, the states filed a motion for an injunction enjoining disclosure of the data. In another, they filed a motion toquashthe Department of Homeland Security’s subpoena.The Driver’s Privacy Protection Act forbids the disclosure of personal driver records unless one of 14 exceptions applies. The exceptions primarily concern law enforcement and litigation purposes.One exception, commonly referred to as the government use exemption, permits the disclosure of sensitive driver records so long as the government demonstrates that the collection of the data serves a legitimate government function. But in *United States v. Weber,*a federal judge in California found the exception didn’t apply to the government’s request to collect millions of Californians’ driver’s license numbers because the government failed to identify how all of the information gathered would be used.The transportation department provided little information on why it needed the data during its initial request. After the nonprofit balked, the Department of Homeland Security filed the subpoena claiming the federal government needs the data to investigate criminal fraud regarding the issuance of commercial licenses to noncitizens and to carry out civil immigration enforcement.Homeland Security and the DOT collaborated on Operation Highway Shield, targeting unqualified noncitizen drivers operating tractor-trailers.“When illegal aliens are behind the wheels of semi-trucks, they are putting American lives in danger,” Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a statement. “With the latest wave of Operation Highway Shield, DHS and our partners at the Department of Transportation have removed more than 800 dangerous truckers from our roadways, including more than 50 illegal aliens and more than 30 drivers who failed English Language Proficiency tests.”The federal government threatened the nonprofit with the loss of up to $10 million in grant funding should it not turn over the data by Aug. 17.“Plaintiff states thus face an impossible predicament: either FMCSA takes their data (in violation of the states’ basic commitments to their residents and, in many cases, state law), or it withdraws AAMVA’s grant funds, prompting the shutdown of the basic infrastructure that powers the states’ issuance of CDLs,” the states say in their complaint. “Either outcome is untenable.”Oversight of commercial driver’s licenses is a core state function. States validate the driver’s identity, medical fitness, immigration status and each applicant’s licensing and driving history in any state where the driver could have been licensed, they say.“If states refuse to roll over and accept the creation of this personal information database, which will be built using CDL information, his administration is threatening to pull critical funding,” Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones said in a press release. “The Commonwealth will not bend to these illegal demands and threats. I am proud to stand with attorneys general around the nation in fighting back against the President’s latest attacks."The Transportation Department did not respond to a request for comment.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads